At least three hundred people gathered in front of the Legislative Building in Olympia on Tuesday — federal Tax Day — to send state lawmakers a message: “No more taxes.”
Coinciding with the deadline to file federal income tax returns and extensions, the April 15 rally hosted by the political organization Let’s Go Washington was part-protest, part giveaway. One attendee won a drawing to have their 2025 property tax bill paid for.
Lucinda Lafayette of Rochester had the lucky ticket, telling McClatchy that she and her husband are retired and living on a fixed income. At the same time, she said, taxes continue to climb.
“So having that one taken off the table, at least for this year, it’s a big relief,” Lafayette said of winning the property-tax drawing.
Tuesday’s rally cames on the eve of Democratic state lawmakers presenting new and increased taxes to help mend Washington’s multi-billion-dollar budget deficit. Gov. Bob Ferguson said earlier this month that the House and Senate majority’s initial budget plans relied too heavily on revenue and not enough on savings.
Democratic leaders say that more taxes are needed because an all-cuts budget would spell devastating consequences for critical programs and services. They’ve advertised proposals that would boost taxes for the state’s wealthiest corporations and individuals.
But their Republican counterparts point out that a slew of other ideas would also affect regular Washingtonians.
One such measure: an increase in yearly property-tax growth, up from today’s 1% annual cap for state and local property taxes to the rate of inflation plus population change, with a limit of 3%.
Olympia resident Kelly Frost told McClatchy at Tuesday’s rally that she and her husband, John, are “tired of being taxed to death.” The Frosts’ property taxes go up all the time, but she wants lawmakers to work within their means.
“Quit promising everything to everybody and coming up with new programs to fund, and just go back to your core purpose and fund those, like safety and education, and leave all the rest alone,” she said.
State Rep. Jeremie Dufault, a Selah Republican, said in an interview that other Democrat-backed proposals would increase gas and payroll taxes. But he thinks that his constituents are most concerned about a potential property-tax hike.
“The taxes just keep going up, and it lands on them in so many ways,” Dufault said.
Republican state Rep. Jim Walsh, who also chairs the Washington State Republican Party, called Tuesday’s rally a “pretty good crowd” with a mix of different folks.
“This is the middle class. This is ordinary people. This is not, you know, tech-industry millionaires,” he told McClatchy. “This is ordinary people who are going to get taxed out of their homes if we don’t get our property taxes under control.”
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