WA Rep. Berg: ‘No intention’ of lowering Washington millionaires tax threshold despite controversial remarks

State Rep. April Berg, D-Mill Creek, claims a Washington Republican Party video of her remarks on the state’s millionaires tax misrepresents how the tax works.

The video is about Initiative 645, which would repeal the millionaires’ tax that was signed into law by Governor Bob Ferguson in March. The party posted a clip from a legislative meeting on implementing the tax, in which Berg described its structure.

“It’s higher earners only, but it’s also a broad base with a $1 million standard deduction … It is just on higher earners, but it’s technically on the base of taxpayers, and everybody, every household gets the million-dollar standard deduction,” Berg said in the clip.

Another example of @washdems saying the quiet part out loud. Listen to @RepBerg admit the unconstitutional income tax will apply to every household. This is in line w/ what @AprilSims is saying publicly. And it begs the question: is this an accident or are they working off the same scripted talking points? VOTE YES TO REPEAL THE STATE INCOME TAX. VOTE YES ON I-645.

@WAGOP @letsgowa @WaHouseGOP @WashingtonSRC @SeattleRedMedia @jcurleyshow @JimWalshLD19 @KCGOP @TCSWashington @WAPolicyCenter

— Washington State GOP (@WAGOP) October 8, 2026

“It was misconstrued,” Berg said on the show. “It’s funny because I listened to it and I went, ‘Yeah, that’s what I said.'”

The tax takes effect in 2028, with first payments due in 2029. It applies 9.9% to Washington taxable income above $1 million per household, regardless of filing status, and is expected to raise about $3 billion a year from roughly 20,000 filers.

“It is a standard deduction for all households, but nobody has to file a tax. This is a tax on millionaires. It is a self-reporting, self-paying tax,” Berg said. “There is not going to be a new form that you fill out.”

Republicans have argued the structure could let a future legislature lower the threshold and reach more households. Berg said she added indexing language when the bill passed the House, so the $1 million deduction rises with inflation every two years instead of shrinking in real terms.

“The standard deduction will go up with that consumer price index, the same one we use for minimum wage,” Berg said.

“What they’re arguing is that there’s a framework being put in place for that threshold to be lowered in the future when the intent of the next representative or senator that comes along wants to make that change,” fill-in host Angela Poe Russell said.

“There’s really not a lot of ways to constrain future legislators,” Berg said. “But what I have told people and what I’m telling you, I have no intention of voting for this to go to anything lower than a million dollars.”

The bill’s exemption from the 2024 initiative banning new income taxes applies only as long as the standard deduction is at least $1 million per household.

The ballot statement for I-645, written by the Attorney General’s Office, said repeal would reduce funding for K-12 education, higher education, and human services. Supporters of repeal call that misleading because no money would be collected until 2029. A listener texted the show asking how there can be cuts to money the state hasn’t spent yet. Russell also asked about a comment at a recent debate that repeal would cost lives.

“It sounds alarmist, but I think that when you’re talking about state dollars that go towards things like healthcare and food security, and the lack of state dollars that would happen if this initiative passed, it’s not too far off the mark to say that lives really are at stake when we’re talking about state finances,” Berg said.

A lawsuit filed in April in Klickitat County Superior Court, led by former Attorney General Rob McKenna, argues the tax is unconstitutional under Culliton v. Chase, a 1933 state Supreme Court ruling that treated income as property, which the state constitution requires to be taxed uniformly at no more than 1%. The state argues income isn’t property.

“We have a court case, not the Constitution, that says income is property,” Berg said. “I believe that that is an incorrect decision by the courts, and I believe the courts will have a chance now to weigh in on it again.”

Angela also asked whether the tax will drive residents to states like Texas and Florida.

“There are 41 other states that have an income tax. This is not a new novel thing that we just came up with,” Berg said. “I’ve had folks who said, ‘I’m going to look at Idaho because I’m really mad,’ and then they realize that Idaho taxes income at dollar one.”

Berg’s call dropped before she could answer a listener’s question about whether she would commit not to lowering the threshold.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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