‘What progress?’: Curley tears apart Ferguson’s push to save millionaires’ tax, says state keeps funding ‘failing education system’

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson held a press conference Tuesday to rally support against the repeal of the state’s millionaires’ tax, which will officially be on the November ballot.

KIRO host John Curley fired back at Ferguson, challenging his claim that the millionaires’ tax represents progress for Washington, particularly in education.

“What progress?” he said on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “You have a deficit. You are taxing more and taking more. You’re spending more. What progress have you made? Progress in schools? By the way, there are 10,000 kids unaccounted for. They don’t know where they are. There are no truancy laws. They don’t enforce any of that sort of stuff.”

‘Could they do worse?’: Curley says millionaires’ tax won’t fix WA education

Curley took issue with Ferguson framing the repeal as a choice between investing in education or going backward, arguing the state is already pouring money into a school system that isn’t delivering results.

“Government spending money on childcare, which will only drive up the price of childcare. Government continuing to spend money on its failing education system,” he said. “So the amount of money that the state of Washington collects from all of us to pour into its failing school system, Chris Reykdal, we want more of it. Because apparently the more money we give you, the better you do.”

“And you moving the goalpost around and telling everybody, ‘Oh no, we don’t have 60% not reading or doing math at grade level. That’s not it’s not as bad as it looks.’ They just move the goalpost around on some of this sort of stuff,” he continued. “So they need to take more of your money to pour into the school system. And if they don’t tax the millionaires, then all of a sudden, ‘The kids won’t do as well.’ Could they do worse?”

Curley warns wealthy residents won’t stick around to be taxed

Curley also warned that the millionaires’ tax will drive wealthy residents out of the state, noting the tax applies to roughly 20,000 people who he said won’t simply sit still while the government takes their money.

“They say they’re going to take money from those people, which they believe somehow that capital or money is just there. Go out and get it. It’s like picking mushrooms or something,” he said. “They don’t think it’s going to leave. The people are just going to stay. They’re not going to do anything. They’re all going to stay. Then the government’s going to come in and take the money from them that they have rightfully earned.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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