Washington State Democrats aren't just ignoring voters anymore — they're openly bragging about it. Democrat Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen was caught on camera during a legislative hearing practically begging the state's Solicitor General for help disguising a brand-new 9.9% income tax as something — anything — other than what it actually is.
Because apparently when you lose the same argument nearly 12 times over the past century, the correct response isn't to take the hint. It's to hire better lawyers.
Here's what happened. Pedersen, pushing SB 6346, which would slap a 9.9% tax on household income over $1 million, looked straight at Solicitor General Noah Purcell during a hearing and asked — and I'm quoting directly here — "Do you have any other suggestions about how to bolster the argument that this would be an excise tax and not a property tax?" That's an elected official asking a government lawyer how to legally disguise a tax so courts won't strike it down. On camera. In front of roughly 100,000 online viewers who were tuning in to oppose the bill.
Pedersen didn't stop there. He openly admitted, "I expect the bill will get challenged in court. I would like to force the Washington Supreme Court to reconsider its caselaw that considers income to be property." Translation: we know this is unconstitutional under current precedent — specifically the 1933 ruling in Culliton v. Chase — but we're going to ram it through anyway and dare the courts to stop us.
The sheer arrogance is breathtaking, even by Democrat standards.
Purcell, for his part, helpfully warned that without proper legal cover, "someone could try to subject the bill to a referendum." You know, a referendum — that annoying little democratic process where citizens get to vote on laws that affect them. Can't have that.
And then there's Democrat Senate Deputy Majority Leader Manka Dhingra, who dismissed the massive public opposition with a wave of her hand: "It's not like we are making decisions not to pass a bill because of 'sign ins.'" Those "sign ins" she's mocking? Approximately 100,000 Washington residents who showed up online to tell their representatives they don't want this tax. But sure, who cares what the peasants think.
Let's talk numbers, because they matter. SB 6346 targets roughly 20,000 households and is projected to rake in $3.7 billion in revenue — with collection conveniently delayed until 2028, safely past the next election cycle. The bill also includes an inflation adjustment every two years, which is Democrat-speak for "the threshold drops and catches more of you every cycle."
This isn't Washington's first rodeo with income tax schemes, either. Voters have rejected income tax proposals nearly 12 times over the past century. Twelve times. And yet here we are, because Democrats have discovered that if you can't win at the ballot box, you just skip it entirely. They already pulled this move with a 7% capital-gains tax that the state approved in 2023 by calling it an "excise tax" — a legal fiction so transparent it would make a carnival barker blush.
Meanwhile, as reported by AMAC Newsline, the Association of Washington Business found that 44% of Washington business leaders are already considering relocation. Nearly half. But Democrat Governor Bob Ferguson signed off on this agenda anyway, because nothing says "thriving economy" like chasing away the people who create jobs.
We've seen this playbook in California, in New York, in Illinois. Tax the productive class, watch them leave, then act stunned when revenue projections crater and the budget hole gets worse. Washington Democrats apparently looked at those cautionary tales and said, "Hold my kombucha."
The voters of Washington have said no to income taxes 12 times. Democrats heard them — they just don't care.
