‘We want to hear the results’: Gee, Ursula say millionaires’ tax needs accountability as new estimate adds $400M to projections

Washington’s millionaires’ tax could bring in $3.1 billion in its first budget cycle, roughly $400 million more than lawmakers initially projected, according to a new state Department of Revenue analysis. The number of households expected to pay the 9.9% tax on wage income above $1 million has also grown from about 21,000 to 25,000.

But KIRO hosts Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin said the bigger question isn’t how much the tax brings in. It’s what happens with the money.

“We want to hear the results,” Gee said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “We want to know how many people got treatment, how many kids graduated, how many families got to become stable, how many people got off the streets from living off the streets, how many people got diverted from the criminal justice system.”

He called the new revenue an opportunity to fund mental health services, addiction treatment, job training, childcare, and housing assistance, but said lawmakers need to be held to measurable outcomes, not just spending totals.

“In 2026, this many people, this many families were helped,” Gee said. “In 2027, this many families were helped compared to 2024. Then people can say, ‘Oh, it’s working. You had a 25% increase in kids graduating. You had a 25% increase in families becoming stable.’ So, let’s not just do the money. We’re going to do the money, and we’re going to do the results.”

Ursula questions the timing and the missing safeguard

Ursula said she was skeptical about the timing of the updated revenue estimate, with voters set to decide the tax’s fate in November. A yes vote on Initiative 645 would repeal the tax before it takes effect in 2028.

“Call me a skeptic about the timing of this new revenue estimate because the November election is just around the corner,” Ursula said. “A yes vote on Initiative 645 would repeal the tax, so now we’re being told this millionaire tax is going to hit more households and bring in hundreds of millions more than originally projected.”

Ursula said her fundamental problem with the law hasn’t changed: Democrats had the opportunity to write in a safeguard preventing future legislatures from lowering the million-dollar threshold, and they chose not to.

“Governor Ferguson promises it won’t happen under his watch, but governors change, legislatures change, and the Democrats had the opportunity to write that protection in the bill, and they chose not to,” she said.

She pointed to former Democratic Governors Christine Gregoire and Gary Locke, both of whom have been critical of state spending. Gregoire said the state operating budget has grown from $33 billion when she left office to nearly $80 billion today.

Gee noted that past governors also didn’t have the same budget demands in place today.

“They didn’t have the things that are in place today,” he said. “They didn’t even have the McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act during that time. There’s a lot of ways that numbers are kind of skewed.”

Will the millionaires’ tax survive?

Ursula said the biggest question may not be political at all.

“Honestly, Gee, I don’t know that it’s going to survive the constitutional challenge,” she said.

The tax is expected to face a legal challenge over whether it violates Washington’s constitutional requirement that taxes be applied uniformly. Even if voters reject Initiative 645 in November, a court ruling could still eliminate the revenue stream before a dollar is ever collected.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.