Washington Supreme Court blocks referendum on millionaires’ tax

The Washington State Supreme Court has blocked a referendum on the state’s new millionaires’ tax.

The court issued a unanimous ruling that said the law — which taxes households with income above one million dollars at a rate of 9.9% — is necessary to support the state government and is therefore exempt from a public vote.

Those opposed to the tax can still move forward with an initiative to override it, but the road to challenge the law will now require twice as many signatures, according to The Washington State Standard. Opponents said they’ll explore an initiative to repeal it.

Heywood says millionaires’ tax ruling strips voters of power to challenge taxes

Brian Heywood, founder of Let’s Go Washington, filed a referendum soon after the tax was signed into law.

Heywood told “The Jason Rantz Show” on Seattle Red the decision amounts to the Supreme Court taking away the people’s power to vote on taxes, a right he said the state’s founders went out of their way to protect.

“What the courts, and what Jamie Pedersen and Bob Ferguson have been arguing, and what the courts essentially declared was that when they wrote the constitution originally, these people who really, really went out of their way to prevent taxes on the citizens — who reserved the power to the citizens — that they somehow gave a free pass to the legislature so that they can pass any tax they want and they can stop it from being a referendum, stop a vote on it,” Heywood said. “So that one is sort of a breathtaking interpretation.”

Perhaps more significant, Heywood said, is that the court confirmed precedent that the legislature can block a referendum on virtually anything, especially taxes.

“I think that because they’re focused so much on precedent, in order for them to be consistent, when the income tax comes before the Supreme Court, I sure hope that they adhere to the same principled stance that they’re taking right now on the referendum,” he said. “That you can’t have it both ways. You can’t say ‘Hey, on the referendum, precedent, precedent, precedent, but on the income tax, let’s blow everything up and start all over.'”

Former Washington attorney general calls tax ‘unconstitutional’

Former Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna, who is leading the legal challenge against the tax, alongside former State Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge, previously told “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio he didn’t think the tax would hold up in court because it violates the state constitution.

“This lawsuit that we brought to overturn this income tax and uphold the constitution is not just about a millionaires’ tax, or this particular bill, this test case, which the legislature has succeeded in creating, is about their ability to create any income tax that they want,” he said. “When we go to court, if the court upholds this new law — which I don’t think they will, because it’s blatantly unconstitutional — but if they did, it wouldn’t just be upholding a millionaire’s tax. It would open the door to any income tax the state wants, and it would open the door to allow cities and counties to pass income taxes as well, because we no longer have a statute in this state that prohibits city and county income taxes.”

McKenna said that Talmadge, a Democrat who supports an income tax as part of broader reform, has argued that a graduated income tax requires a constitutional amendment. The legislature has sent constitutional amendments to the ballot six times, and voters rejected them each time by wide margins — the last by a 77-23 margin. Four income tax initiatives have also been defeated.

Brown says 1933 ruling against state income tax was ‘wrongly decided’

Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown told “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio that he agrees with Pedersen and other lawmakers that the Supreme Court’s 1933 ruling in Culliton v. Chase — which held that a state income tax was unconstitutional — was incorrect.

“Yeah, we agreed that it was wrongly decided,” Brown said.

He added that he trusts the voters to decide on the tax.

“My job in coming here today, and in general, is not to convince you that a tax on millionaires is a good thing or a bad thing,” he said. “I trust Washington voters to make up their own minds on this important issue.”

Pedersen says legislature has no desire to expand millionaires’ tax

Before the interview with Brown, Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen told “Gee and Ursula” the current legislature has no intention of expanding the millionaires’ tax to the masses.

“There is no desire from the governor, there is no desire from the current Legislature to expand the millionaires’ tax down to everyone,” he said. “And of course, even if we did that, it would also be subject to the power of initiative by the people.”

However, Pedersen acknowledged that he believes the 1933 Supreme Court ruling was a mistake and is asking the current court to reconsider it.

“I think that the 1933 Supreme Court, in a five-to-four decision, made a mistake,” he said. “I am asking for the Supreme Court in 2026 — 93 years later — to take a second look at that, and we know that the Supreme Court all the time, both our Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, changes its mind periodically and has a new understanding. That’s all that’s going on, I just think they were wrong 93 years ago.”

The millionaires’ tax, according to Pedersen, helps solve two main issues: a lack of funding for vital programs such as education and health care, and an “upside-down tax system” that forces poor people to pay a dramatically higher share of their income in taxes than rich people.

Contributing: Frank Lenzi, KIRO Newsradio; Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest

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