Harger: New WA ‘millionaires tax’ includes emergency clause blocking voter referendum
Feb 4, 2026, 9:56 AM | Updated: 5:38 pm
Lawmakers in Olympia introduced their income tax on millionaires this week — a 9.9% tax on individual income above $1 million, starting in 2028.
Democrats say Washington’s tax structure is broken and, honestly, the numbers back it up. Households in the bottom 20% of income pay nearly 14% of what they earn in state and local taxes. Households in the top 1%? About 4%. Only Florida has a more regressive system. So if you’re grinding away at $40,000 a year, you’re paying a larger share of your paycheck to the state than someone earning $4 million. That bugs a lot of people, myself included.
Republicans say the million-dollar threshold is just the opening act. And they’ve got a point. There’s nothing locking that number in. A future legislature could drop it to $750,000. Then $400,000. Then $250,000. Then suddenly it’s not a millionaire tax. And once the machinery exists, lowering the threshold is a simple majority vote.
This is exactly the kind of thing we should be hashing out. Publicly. Loudly. With all the arguments on the table.
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But here’s where I start to get uncomfortable
The bill has this clause tucked in at the end: “The tax imposed in this act is necessary for the support of the state government and its existing public institutions.”
Those are magic words in Olympia. When a bill says that, it becomes an “emergency.” And emergency legislation can’t go to referendum. Voters can’t gather signatures to put the question on the ballot. The only way to fight it would be a full initiative campaign, after the law is already in effect, asking people to vote to repeal something that’s already happening. That’s a much heavier lift.
Washington voters have rejected income tax proposals 11 times since 1932. Six of those were constitutional amendments. Courts have struck down others. Eleven times, voters have said no, and now lawmakers have written this bill so voters don’t get asked again.
Oh, and there’s a fun little bonus. The bill has a poison pill. If a court strikes down the income tax, the whole thing dies. All of it. Including the tax relief for small businesses and the Working Families Tax Credit expansion. Challenge the tax and win? Congratulations, you also just killed the parts everyone likes. Funny how that works.
Look, I’m not telling you this tax is good or bad. Smart people disagree. But calling this an emergency? Writing it specifically so voters can’t weigh in? That feels like lawmakers who already know what the answer would be if they asked.
Governor Ferguson says he can’t support the bill in its current form. He says he wants more money going back to regular people. More tax relief. He says there’s still time to negotiate. Fine. While they’re negotiating, maybe they should also reconsider that emergency clause.
The bill is still early in the process. There’s time to fix this. If Democrats really believe this is the right policy, they should be willing to make that case to the people who’ll be paying for it.
Let the voters decide.
Unless you’re worried about what they’ll say.
Charlie Harger is the host of “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of his stories and commentaries here. Follow Charlie on X and email him here.
