Democrats in the Washington state Senate want you to believe this new income tax is about fairness.
It is not.
It is about control.
Last week, they approved a 9.9% tax on personal income above $1 million. They are calling it a millionaire's tax. That label is deliberate. It makes the policy sound narrow. It makes the impact sound distant. It makes it feel like someone else’s problem.
But Washington voters have rejected an income tax over and over for nearly a century. That history is not an accident. It reflects a deeply rooted principle in this state. Our constitution, reinforced by precedent from the Washington Supreme Court, has long treated income as property. Property must be taxed uniformly. A graduated income tax does not meet that standard.
Instead of proposing a constitutional amendment and letting the people decide, the majority party is attempting to force this through statute and daring the courts to intervene.
That should concern anyone who believes in constitutional guardrails.
And here is the part that should make every taxpayer in Lewis County and Thurston County sit up straight.
Republicans offered an amendment that would have locked in the 1 million dollar threshold. It would have guaranteed that the Legislature could not simply lower the bar in future years and sweep more people into the net.
Democrats rejected it.
If this is truly about the ultra-wealthy, why refuse to cement the protection? Why not put it in writing that small business owners, land-rich farmers, independent contractors, and retirees who sell a property one year will never be targeted?
Because this is not just about one tax bracket.
It is about establishing authority to tax income in Washington state.
Thresholds move. They always move. What begins as a tax on the top 1% slowly creeps downward. First, it is $1 million. Then it is $750,000. Then it is $500,000. Then it is redefined as whatever number is politically convenient in a future budget shortfall.
Ask yourself this: if lawmakers were absolutely certain this would never expand, why refuse to lock the door behind them?
Here at home in Lewis and South Thurston counties, we do not have armies of hedge fund managers. We have family-owned logging operations. We have farmers who sell land to retire. We have business owners who might have one unusually profitable year after decades of reinvestment. We have tech professionals who commute north and choose to live here because Washington historically did not tax income.
Those people are not villains. They are employers. They sponsor Little League teams. They donate to scholarships. They support local journalism. They fund Rotary auctions and school levies.
Capital is mobile. Talent is mobile. High earners can move. Investors can shift money across state lines in minutes. When you stack a nearly ten percent income tax on top of an already heavy regulatory and tax environment, you are sending a message. Washington is changing the rules.
And here is what rarely gets said out loud.
This state already leans heavily on sales tax and fuel tax. We have some of the highest gas taxes in the country. We impose layers of environmental regulation. We continue to expand spending commitments. Now, instead of reforming spending priorities, the majority party wants to create a brand new revenue stream.
Once the government acquires a new revenue tool, it does not give it back.
If this policy is as popular as its supporters claim, put it on the ballot. Let the voters decide. Washingtonians have a long record on this issue. Lawmakers know it. That is why they are not asking directly.
This debate is not about whether someone earning over one million dollars can afford to pay more. That is the easy talking point.
The real question is whether we are comfortable watching the Legislature test constitutional limits, refuse reasonable safeguards, and establish a precedent that income taxation is now fair game in Washington.
You may not make a million dollars a year. Most of us do not.
But if you care about economic competitiveness, about keeping opportunity in rural counties, about protecting small businesses from future expansion of tax brackets, and about maintaining the integrity of our state constitution, then this fight matters to you.
Because once the door to an income tax is open, it will not stay narrowly framed for long.
And when the definition of millionaire begins to shrink, remember who refused to lock it in when they had the chance.
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Chad Taylor is publisher and co-owner of The Chronicle. He can be reached at chad@chronline.com.
