A rally urging state representatives to pass the Millionaires’ Tax was held in Red Square on March 6, organized by several Bellingham labor unions.
The Millionaires’ Tax is a bill proposing a 9.9% tax on residents who make $1 million or more, affecting the wealthiest 0.5% of Washington households. The tax would generate an estimated $3.7 billion each year, which would be put toward K-12 education, health care, higher education, human services and other government services, according to the bill.
Washington has the second-most regressive tax structure in the U.S., second to Florida, according to a 2024 report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. This means lower-income households pay a disproportionate amount of their income in taxes compared to higher-income households.
The Millionaires’ Tax passed the state Senate and is awaiting a floor vote in the House of Representatives. Gov. Bob Ferguson has stated he will sign the bill if it makes it to his desk. The legislative session ends March 12, and if the bill doesn’t pass the House before then, it will die and have to be re-introduced next session.
If passed, it would become the first income tax imposed in Washington.
“It has to pass this session. We won’t see any revenue from this until 2029, and the longer we wait, the longer we push that out,” said Paul Carlson, Washington Federation of State Employees Local 1381 President.
Proponents say the tax would bring in more funding for services that have experienced cuts, and take a step towards remedying the regressive tax structure. Opponents say income tax has been consistently found unconstitutional since a 1933 Washington Supreme Court case, and worry that the bill would eventually be amended to affect more taxpayers.
About 55 people attended the rally in Red Square, hoisting signs and chanting in the rain. A few union members stood on Fisher Fountain and spoke to the crowd through a megaphone.
Western Academic Workers United member Colleen Ryan asked students to raise their hands if they’ve felt the effects of cuts to higher education at Western Washington University. Dozens of hands shot up.
“There is enough money in this state, we just aren’t taxing it,” she said.
Service Employees International Union Local 775 executive board member Shelly Hughes, a certified nursing aide in Bellingham, is worried about imminent federal cuts to Medicaid. She said when the government is in a deficit, vulnerable populations are the first to feel the cuts, and legislators need to take action to protect them.
The rally was held at Western to connect with young people and to voice their concerns specifically for representatives of the 42nd Legislative District, Reps. Alicia Rule and Joe Timmons.
“Our tax structure in Washington state is upside down,” Timmons said during a town hall meeting on Feb. 21. “We need to fix it.”
At that meeting, Timmons said he was still looking over the Millionaires’ Tax and deciding if it was the “right time for something like that.”
“We do not have fat to trim,” labor organizer Lexy Aydelotte said. “Our institutions are starving and we are losing them.”
Noelle Reger (she/her) is a second-year journalism student and city life reporter for The Front this quarter. When she's not reading or writing, she can usually be found gambling at the claw machines in Sharetea. You can reach her at noellereger.thefront@gmail.com.
