The first reaction is my own. The DemocRats in the Washington Legislature have just told the citizens of the state that they don’t care what we think, they don’t care what we do, and they will continue to rain down taxes and regulations upon us, regardless. They have seen what percentage of citizens are violently against this unconstitutional income tax, yet they spit in our faces and passed it anyway, with not one Republican vote. And then, they literally celebrated in the aisles of the Legislature. Clapping, cheering, hugging each other, they celebrated the passage of a huge tax on those residents who are entrepreneurs, tech executives, and descendants of Washington pioneers. They continue to believe that the wealthy public will simply sit still and take the huge tax, and do nothing to mitigate the damage. They are sadly mistaken. For that matter, they have already indicated that they know the revenue from the tax will be nowhere near what they have planned, and they can simply ratchet the “exemption” down to include every taxpaying citizen of Washington. The hammer is over all of our heads. The Left is Evil.
Yesterday, Governor Bob Ferguson signed Washington state’s first income tax into law.
Voters rejected an income tax as recently as 2010. In 2024 they went further — passing Initiative 2111, which explicitly banned the state from enacting one.
Democrats amended that ban and passed it anyway. 51-46 in the House. 27-22 in the Senate.
Senate Bill 6346 imposes a 9.9% tax on household income above $1 million.
The bill includes a “necessity clause” that blocks a public referendum. Opponents cannot put repeal to a vote.
The Washington State Supreme Court ruled in 1933 that income is property and must be taxed uniformly. That precedent has stood for 93 years. Democrats didn’t pursue a constitutional amendment. Instead they redefined the tax as a levy on the “receipt” of income — not income itself — and are relying on a current court to accept the distinction.
A lawsuit was filed the same day Ferguson signed it.
Washington was already ranked 45th in state tax competitiveness. New Jersey introduced its income tax in 1976 with a 2.5% top rate. It is now 10.75%.
Two years ago voters banned the income tax. Democrats wrote an exception into that ban, shielded it from referendum, and signed it anyway.
Yeah, FELONS in our legislature, saying “Screw You” to citizens every day. If it’s not a criminal record, it’s conflicts of interest out the wazzu.
Republicans and ordinary citizens are doing their best to fight back.
Knowledge is power, they say.
Finally, another way that the DemocRat Legislature is putting their boot on the neck of the citizen. A bill just signed that allows an unelected board of Olympia bureaucrats to decertify duly-elected county sheriffs.
Just to remind everyone…
The Legislature of the State of Washington basically hates its citizens. We are just their piggy-bank.
Calling-all-RushBabes 
Who has the authority to remove the highest ranking peace officer of a county (i.e. the county sheriff) from office after that sheriff becomes “decertified” by some state appointed board? Remember, sheriffs are elected by the people. Is the board going to create some kind of Super Sheriff position to carry out this task? Or will this be a job for some kind of Pale Rider who comes to town and the business will be settled on a vacant street at high noon?
“RCW 36.16.110 Vacancies in office. (1) The county legislative authority in each county shall, at its next regular or special meeting after being appraised of any vacancy in any county, township, precinct, or road district office of the county, fill the vacancy by the appointment of some person qualified to hold such office, and the officers thus appointed shall hold office until the next general election, and until their successors are elected and qualified.”
The county legislative authority would presumably not be allowed to fill the vacancy with the disqualified person. However, this puts the county council in charge of who gets to be sheriff, instead of the voters.
Interesting legal observation on a podcast I was listening to. The WA Supreme Court hears the case against an income tax, rules that a tax not equally applied is, in fact, unconstitutional. They then strike down the clause that limits it to certain incomes only. We still have an income tax, but it applies to all levels of income and is, therefore, constitutional. And not one Democrat had to vote to apply the tax to all the citizens of Washington.
I have no idea if this is possible under WA state legal rules, but it certainly seems plausible. If it happens, I get you heard it on Rush Babe first. If it doesn’t, well the good news is nobody looks at old blog comments.
Since all the Supreme Court justices are Democrats, they did vote for the income tax. Fergie just appointed two new leftist justices and we all know how they will rule on anything that comes before them. Unless we vote them all out in November, the State of Washington is now Ruled, not Governed.