Note: The following e-newsletter was sent to Sen. Wilson’s subscribers Feb. 3, 2026. To subscribe to Sen. Wilson’s e-mails, click here.

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The big story in Olympia today is that my majority colleagues in the Legislature have finally introduced their income tax bill. They’ve launched the biggest debate of this year’s legislative session, and here is the thing I like best about it. At last, they can stop pretending they are against the idea.

The income tax bill is right there for all of us to read. Twenty-six out of 30 Senate Democrats have signed on. Our friends are standing tall and proud, and they want everyone to know they are the party of the income tax.

Over the next several weeks, they will do their best to force this nasty business on the people of Washington, whether we want it or not. Never mind the fact that Washington has voted against an income tax ten times already.

I find this thoroughly refreshing. The pretense is over. Our friends are telling us everyone was right all along. I don’t know about you, but I got really tired these last 15 years of hearing political candidates say, “Anybody who says I want an income tax is a liar. I want something totally different, like a tax on capital gains income. Yes, a capital gains tax – that’s the ticket.”

Seems like we heard enough of that nonsense right here in Southwest Washington. Thank goodness we’ll never hear it again.

The new promise: Tax hurts only the rich

That’s not to say the well of nonsense has run dry. Our friends are up to their old tricks, calling this income tax something it isn’t. They are calling this proposal a “tax on millionaires.” What the bill really does is launch an income tax with a high threshold. The term is calculated to convince easily-impressed people that this would hurt the rich and nobody else.

Right from the start, this tax would slam small business owners, few of whom would call themselves rich.

And within a few years of passage, this tax would be expanded to all of us, because that’s the way income taxes always work. The middle class is where the money is. We’re the big prize. Government would take more of your money and leave less for you and your family. And you and your children would have fewer opportunities to find better jobs and work yourselves out of the hole, as high taxation causes our economy to stagnate.

Promises are pie-crust

I better explain something that might seem confusing. A couple of years ago, many of us supported an initiative prohibiting the Legislature from passing an income tax. The people of this state gathered 448,158 signatures to forward I-2111 to the Legislature. Our majority colleagues promptly passed it. Nearly everyone in the Legislature voted yes. So this initiative became law straight-off, and it never went to the ballot.

Here’s the thing. When an initiative goes to the people and they approve it, a two-thirds vote of the Legislature is required to amend or repeal it within the first two years of passage. But since this initiative never got a public vote, a loophole in our state Constitution allows our colleagues to come right back and amend it with a simple majority vote in the next session or any time thereafter.

Senate Bill 6346 amends the initiative so that it doesn’t apply here. An income tax thus becomes permissible. The Senate Democratic Leader, when asked about this betrayal of the people, told an interviewer that the vote against the income tax was “a pie-crust promise – easily made, easily broken.”

That’s what we said! And now that you know how light and flaky Olympia promises can be, I hope you’ll be able to recognize the problem with the new one my colleagues are making. How long do you think it would be before this new state income tax comes for you? This promise looks like pie, but it tastes like baloney.

 

Flash! Proposal for a state income tax gets a hearing Friday

Act now to register your opinion with the Legislature

Tell Democrats in Olympia what you think of their plan for a state income tax! Senate Bill 6346 will be heard in the Senate Ways and Means Committee at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. This may be your best chance to register your opinion with the Legislature. Click here to let the Legislature know your view, pro or con. You can use this same link to sign up to testify. If we stand any chance of heading this off, it is through the power of numbers. The Legislature needs to hear from you.

 

 

‘Pie-crust rally’ calls attention to initiatives on parental rights, girls’ sports

Senate Democratic Leader gets a back-handed recognition on the Capitol steps

Podcaster Brandi Kruse addresses the crowd at Tuesday’s rally.

A rally on the Capitol steps Tuesday turned the spotlight on a pair of initiatives presented to the Legislature this year – and commemorated the Senate Democratic Leader’s blithe attitude toward political promises. The “Pie-Crust Rally,” organized by initiative sponsor Let’s Go Washington, drew a crowd of about 250 people. A pair of public forums later in the day sponsored by legislative Republicans took the place of the legislative hearings that Democrats would not permit.

• IL26-001 establishes parental rights in public education, and undoes an effort by Olympia Democrats to undermine the last initiative from the people on this subject. Democratic lawmakers took advantage of the constitutional loophole described above by passing the initiative in the 2024 session and amending it in the next legislative session.
• IL26-638 protects fairness in school athletics by preventing boys from competing on girls’ teams. This measure responds to an effort by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction to pressure school districts into allowing male participation in girls’ sports in the name of trans rights.

Majority Democrats have announced that they will give neither initiative a vote, despite the fact that the state Constitution requires them to do so. The constitution states flatly that when an initiative is submitted to the Legislature, it “shall take precedence over all other measures in the Legislature except appropriation bills and shall be either enacted or rejected without change or amendment by the Legislature before the end of such regular session.”

Whether legislative leaders can duck a vote is a matter for lawyers to debate and the courts to decide – but only if someone thinks it’s worth a lawsuit. After the way Democrats gutted the original parental rights initiative, maybe we should be relieved they don’t want to touch it again. At this point it appears the session will end without action on either initiative, meaning both measures would advance to the ballot. Washington voters at last will have the final say.

A crowded public meeting about the initiatives Tuesday, sponsored by legislative Republicans, gave the public the forum they were denied when our colleagues refused to hold hearings on the measures.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Sen. Jeff Wilson
19th Legislative District

Contact me!

Telephone: (360) 786-7636

Email: Jeff.Wilson@leg.wa.gov

Mailing address: P.O. Box 40419 /Olympia, WA 98504

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