Governor Bob Ferguson began his campaign to defend the ‘Millionaires Tax as hedge-fund and conservative political activist Brian Heywood takes another swing to rescind progressive policy initiatives at the ballot box.
Earlier in July, Heywood’s ‘Let’s Go Washington’ turned in over 500,000 signatures to get a repeal of just the Millionaires Tax from Washington law, even as the law that created the tax rolled out other policies as well.
The estimated $3 billion in revenue a year from the tax is earmarked in the law for education, childcare and food security programs. It also increased eligibility for the Working Families Tax Credit, lowered the exemption threshold for business and operating taxes for small businesses, and eliminated sales taxes on diapers and certain health items.
“It’s choice between investing in our kid’s education and childcare access and affordability. Or going backwards with cuts to education and limiting access to child care,” Ferguson said of the attempt to repeal the tax.
Intiative-645 would only repeal the Millionaires Tax, thus the funding mechanism for education and other programs.
Heywood says the expansion of the state’s budget in the past decade should be able to pay for those programs, saying the rest has been spent on things he finds “stupid.”
“I don’t think that anyone can with a straight face argue that our roads have gotten better or that our schools have gotten better or that public safety has gotten better or that the ferry system has gotten better. None of those things have improved at the same time. We’ve nearly tripled our budget,” Heywood said.
Tech executive and millionaire Brian Kirshner was at the governor’s campaign kick off, saying despite qualifying to pay for it, he supports the tax, saying he “doesn’t need tax cuts.”
“Every year, you are paying more while I am paying less,” Kirschner said, “If Initiative 645 passes, it will make things even worse.”
“For everybody who says they’re going to leave, I think there are just as many people who are either move in,” Kirscher said, believing Washington’s environment and other aspects about it’s culture make it a desirable place to live.
Heywood said in an interview he’s supportive of anything that reduces the tax burden, like the B&O tax reduction for smaller businesses part of the Millionaires Tax law. He worries about larger companies. Both Amazon and Microsoft have laid off more than 2,500 people each in 2026, according to layoff notices to the State’s Employment Security Department.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington’s unemployment rate is the second highest in the nation, behind California, at 5.2%
“They’re ignoring the much more devastating impact they’re having on. Real businesses that are deciding not to hire people, not to invest in the company, country, state, or to move out.”
Ferguson points to a CNBC study showing Washington climbing business-friendly state rankings in response to rising unemployment trends in the state.
“What I worry about is we won’t have the resources to fund critical programs when people need them, right? That’s what I worry about and that’s what’s going to happen if Brian Heywood has his way,” Ferguson said.
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