The state’s largest city wants to allow it. Some members of the state legislature are eager to give permission for it. But citizens in the state’s second largest city might be ready to take the lead in the fight against an income tax.

Spokane voters may decide this fall whether to approve a city charter change that would prohibit the city of Spokane from adopting a city income tax. The proposition would take the exact opposite approach of Seattle. 

In 2017, Seattle adopted a city income tax on “high earners,” despite the fact state law already prohibits cities and counties from adopting local income taxes.

Seattle leaders said they were eager to challenge that law, as well as voters’ repeated rejection of income taxes and decades of Supreme Court precedent on the issue. The Association of Washington Cities – which includes elected officials from across the state - even stepped in to offer Seattle a helping hand when it was sued over its new income tax.

Predictably, Seattle lost its case in King County Superior Court, but it is currently before the state Court of Appeals and Seattle leaders are hoping to get it before the state Supreme Court.

At the same time, the legislature is trying to grant new authority to cities to adopt income taxes. A bill introduced this legislative session would allow cities and counties to adopt business and personal income taxes.

The Spokane proposition may help provide a layer of protection from any thought of an income tax. No matter what political winds may blow at the state level, city officials would be prohibited from ever adopting a city income tax.

Proponents say they will be gathering signatures to try to place the issue on the Novmber ballot. 

Voters in the Spokane area have repeatedly rejected income taxes when they have come up for a vote, including most recently in 2010 when a statewide income tax was soundly defeated.