PETITION: No State Income Tax for Washington

No State Income Tax for Washington

Our state is facing many challenges. Street-level homelessness and drug addiction are an epidemic. Student test scores are down. Our environmental policies are not achieving promised results and our state's transportation system is crumbling. But the fix to these problems is not the adoption of a state income tax which harms Washington's competitive advantage and reduces the stability of state revenue.

In addition, if we pass a "millionaires income tax" now, our state's growing spending problem all but guarantees the rest of us will see an income tax later. That's the nature of income taxes at the federal level and in other states. They don't stay micro-targeted, but broaden over time and we cannot trust the legislature to resist that urge.

Who says so? They do.

At a recent event, the Deputy Majority Leader in the Washington State House of Representatives Larry Springer asked rhetorically, “Why should the public assume that it’s not gonna be an income tax on them by 2031?” He then answered, “You shouldn’t ... just a year ago put in statute that an income tax is not going to be passed in Washington. … And within a year, we’re proposing an income tax. Yeah, you should probably be skeptical.”

Washington state has serious problems, but adding an income tax to our state only adds to our challenges long-term. Please add your name to the list of Washingtonians asking the Legislature and the governor to put a halt on any income tax for Washington state.