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Harger: Ferguson signed WA’s millionaire income tax. Before you celebrate or protest, ask what happened to the last decade of budget increasesGovernor Bob Ferguson signed Washington’s new millionaire income tax into law Monday morning.
Lawsuits were announced almost immediately. A repeal effort is already in motion. The political and legal fight ahead will be long and loud. Washington voters have rejected an income tax eleven times. Proponents know the constitutional challenge is coming, which is why they branded it the “millionaire tax” and have avoided the words “income tax” at every turn. But before we get into the legal fight, I want to talk about why this idea keeps coming back. And why it keeps working. Harger: George Carlin warned us about soft language. Seattle and King County gave him 40 years of new material. Harger: Hundreds responded to my Seattle homelessness commentary. Here's what you said, and what I missed Harger: King County kept paying contractors despite warnings of fraud. A whistleblower got fired for asking questions It keeps working because a lot of people are hurting. Groceries cost more than they did two years ago. Housing is out of reach for an entire generation of working Washingtonians. The job market feels shaky. The gap between the people doing well and those just trying to hang on widens every year.They hold up the little guy as a political prop. Then they point at the millionaires and say: We’re going to make them pay for you. They’ve got what you want. We’ll go get it. The anger behind that message is real. The pain behind it is real. But the framing is a distraction — a nearly perfect one. As long as the guy working two jobs is furious at the millionaire, he isn’t looking at Olympia and asking, “Wait, you doubled the state budget in a decade. Where did all of it go?” As long as we’re pointing fingers at each other, the politicians get a pass.I also think a lot of people have a nagging feeling they haven’t quite put into words yet. Something like: this doesn’t stop here. These things never do. Once the framework exists, the threshold tends to drift. It starts with the millionaires. Then the definition of a millionaire gets a little more flexible. Then it’s the small business owner who had a good year. Then it’s the dual-income family in Renton just trying to keep up with the mortgage. I’ve seen enough budget cycles to know this tax won’t be the last ask. State spending keeps growing. They’ll take this money, and when the next gap opens up, they’ll be back at the microphone with the same argument. We just didn’t take enough. And somewhere in all of that, you have to ask an uncomfortable question. If the state is subsidizing your rent, managing your healthcare, paying for your childcare, and handing you a check to buy groceries, you become entirely dependent on the people in power. Is the goal to actually solve the affordability problem? Or is the goal to make sure you can’t afford to challenge the people claiming to solve it? I don’t think anyone sat in a room and drew that up on a whiteboard. But I’ve watched enough of this to know you don’t have to intend an outcome to end up with it.I know who gets invoked when politicians sell a tax like this. I grew up in a family that relied on food stamps at times. I’ve worked four jobs at once just to pay the bills. For more than twenty years, I held a full-time job and a part-time job simultaneously: anchoring weekends and overnights in Seattle while teaching at a community college in Auburn. For much of that stretch, I was also recording evenings for a music station down in the South Sound.So when someone uses people like me, with my specific and not-uncommon life experience, as the justification for this tax, I want to ask one question: how did the last round of budget increases work out for us?WA doubled its budget in a decade. Where did it go? The working people whose stories get borrowed every time a new tax needs selling deserve better than to be useful once every legislative session. Washington voters have said no 11 times. The courts will get their shot. But Olympia still owes an accounting of everything it has already taken. Nobody in power seems to be in a hurry to provide one.Harger: Ferguson signed WA’s millionaire income tax. Before you celebrate or protest, ask what happened to the last decade of budget increasesHarger: George Carlin warned us about soft language. Seattle and King County gave him 40 years of new material.Washington farmers urge a pause on the Climate Commitment Act as rising diesel prices threaten their business amid ongoing conflicts and economic strain. ‘The state is not business-friendly’: Curley rips proposed vacancy tax amid 30% empty Seattle buildings12 reasons to try Aegis Living respite care — yes, short stays are a thingChrystal Ortega's tireless dedication recently earned her the WSECU Community Champions Award and a $1,000 grant to further the mission.When Shawn Tibbitts opened Tibbitts FernHill, he was just trying to survive. The small Tacoma restaurant has since earned culinary awards and praise.Wilcox Family Farms is continuing its cherished holiday tradition of giving back by donating nearly one million eggs to food banks across the South Sound region this season.Matthew Ballantyne has transformed that early awareness into action, embodying the organization's mission:"No Kid Sleeps On The Floor In Our Town."Harger: Ferguson signed WA’s millionaire income tax. Before you celebrate or protest, ask what happened to the last decade of budget increases
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