{"id":47441,"date":"2026-03-31T11:55:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47441"},"modified":"2026-03-31T11:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:55:19","slug":"inspiring-washington-enacts-millionaires-tax-to-help-working-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/03\/31\/inspiring-washington-enacts-millionaires-tax-to-help-working-families\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Inspiring\u2019: Washington Enacts Millionaires\u2019 Tax to Help Working Families"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Democratic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Democratic Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed state legislation that creates a tax on income over $1 million in a single year on March 30, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo: Gov. Bob Ferguson\/Bluesky)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The head of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy praised state policymakers for \u201clistening to the demands of the people to create a less regressive state tax system.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Corbett<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 30, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While nearby California prepares for a November vote to tax the ultrarich, Democratic Washington<\/a> Gov. Bob Ferguson<\/a> on Monday signed state legislation that creates a tax on income over $1 million in a single year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdoption of the historic Millionaires\u2019 Tax makes our tax system more fair, and means free meals for K-12 students, the largest tax break in state history for small businesses, eliminating the sales tax for baby diapers, and sending a check to nearly 500,000 working families to make life more affordable,\u201d Ferguson highlighted in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NYC-DSA<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The Current Tax Code Is Rigged,\u2019 Plus 6.2 Trillion Other Reasons to Tax America\u2019s Ultrarich<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"NYC-DSA<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Markey Applauded for Proposal to Make Wealthiest Americans Pay Investment Tax<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Senate Bill 6346<\/a>, sponsored by state Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D-43), was delivered to the governor earlier this month after passing the upper chamber 27-21. In the Washington House of Representatives, where the companion bill was led by Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon (D-34), it was approved 51-46.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith this bill, we\u2019re going to begin to right a historic wrong that has plagued our state for nearly 100 years, and made our tax system one of the worst and most regressive in the entire country,\u201d said Pedersen. \u201cWe\u2019ve asked Washington\u2019s working families for far too long to shoulder far too much of the tax burden for the things we care about, and we have not asked enough of our wealthiest neighbors. The Millionaires\u2019 Tax represents hope and change for people in communities like mine, and across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomberg reported<\/a> Monday that before adopting the law, which \u201capplies a 9.9% levy on the roughly 30,000 taxpayers in the state who make more than $1 million a year,\u201d Washington was one of just nine states without an income tax<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington lawmakers previously \u201cmade progress in recent years by creating and later enhancing their capital gains excise tax,\u201d but its \u201ctax structure has been woefully unequal, ranking as the second-most regressive<\/a> state and local tax system in the country,\u201d according to<\/a> the Institute on Taxation<\/a> and Economic Policy (ITEP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInequality<\/a> is at a historic high and billionaires are walking away with ever-larger shares of our country\u2019s collective wealth,\u201d ITEP executive director Amy Hanauer said in a Monday statement. \u201cWith those in charge at the federal level passing policies that only make this worse, it is incumbent upon states to come up with solutions. It is inspiring to see Washington listening to the demands of the people to create a less regressive state tax system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last year, congressional Republicans<\/a> and President Donald Trump<\/a> used the GOP\u2019s narrow majorities to pass a budget<\/a> package, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, that provided the rich with more tax breaks while slashing programs for working families, such as Medicaid<\/a> and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferguson signed Washington\u2019s bill as Republicans in Congress prepare for this year\u2019s budget package, which they aim to pass ahead of the November midterm elections<\/a>, and other states and localities consider measures to tax the rich<\/a> and use the revenue to better serve the working class<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As historian Lawrence Wittner detailed<\/a> in an opinion piece for Common Dreams last week, \u201cCampaigns for state tax-the-rich legislation<\/u><\/a> are flourishing in California, Colorado, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas<\/a>, and Virginia<\/a>, and have already succeeded<\/u><\/a> in getting such legislation adopted in Massachusetts and Washington<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/a> (I-Vt.) headed<\/a> to New York City<\/a> on Sunday to boost an effort by NYC\u2019s newly elected mayor, Zohran Mamdani<\/a>, to pressure Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul to raise taxes on the rich. He addressed a rally at Lehman College in the Bronx.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe people of the city, the people of this state, the people of this country, they do not want to see our kids go hungry,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cThey do not want people to sleep out on the street or lack healthcare<\/a>. They want the very rich to start paying their fair share of taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the federal level, Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna<\/a> (D-Calif.) earlier this month introduced<\/a> the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act. They were followed<\/a> last week by Sen. Elizabeth Warren<\/a> (D-Mass.) and Reps. Pramila Jayapal<\/a> (D-Wash.) and Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), lead sponsors of the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act. However, neither bill is expected to get through the current Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like in Washington, DC, efforts to tax the rich are still facing pushback in Washington state. After Ferguson\u2019s signature, Citizen Action Defense Fund announced its intention to sue, with executive director Jackson Maynard declaring that \u201csince lawmakers and the governor have chosen to ignore both the constitution and decades of settled case law, we will act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to<\/a> KUOW, during the bill signing event<\/a> in Olympia that featured remarks from not only the governor but also the bill sponsors, a small business owner, and a tech executive, Ferguson acknowledged that \u201cthere\u2019s going to be a public conversation around this in the days and weeks and months ahead, as there should be of something of this historic nature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPutting front and center those perspectives you just heard, I think, will be critical,\u201d he asserted, \u201cbecause when Washingtonians hear the benefits that flow to working families, to businesses large and small, to kids in schools with those free meals, for childcare services for thousands of Washington families, it\u2019s going to make a huge, huge difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Corbett<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Corbett is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democratic Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed state legislation that creates a tax on income over $1 million in a single year on March 30, 2026. \u00a0(Photo: Gov. Bob Ferguson\/Bluesky) The head of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy praised state policymakers for \u201clistening to the demands of the people… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47441"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47441"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47442,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47441\/revisions\/47442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}