Although Washington State does not currently levy an income tax, Initiative 2111 nevertheless seeks to prohibit the state and its localities from levying one.
Tag: Strong Commonwealth
Posted inElections
Initiative 2109 (repealing billions of dollars in education funding) gets certified
Initiative 2109 would eradicate nearly $900 million a year in funding from Washington’s K‑12 schools, early learning, and childcare to give a tax cut to the very wealthiest Washingtonians.
Posted inLegislative Advocacy
Property tax reform must be a priority, NPI tells Senate Ways & Means Committee
Read NPI founder Andrew Villeneuve’s prepared testimony in support of Senate Bill 5770, a long overdue effort to revisit Tim Eyman’s Initiative 747, which is choking the life out of our essential public services.
Posted inLegislative Advocacy
Congress sends President Biden a new stopgap bill to keep federal government open
H.R. 2872, dubbed the Further Additional Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, 2024, was sent to President Biden for signature after receiving affirmative votes in Congress on January 18th.
Posted inLegislative Advocacy
U.S. Supreme Court rejects Quinn legal challenge to Washington’s capital gains tax on the wealthy, dashing right wing hopes
The decision keeps hundreds of millions of dollars flowing each year to education, childcare, and early learning in the Evergreen State.
Posted inPolicy Topics
U.S. Senate passes its version of the 2024 NDAA, with PNW Democrats split yea and nay
The bill, which passed 86–11, would authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2024 for military activities of the Department of Defense and for military construction.
Posted inLegislative Advocacy
Putting a right wing poll of Washington State under the microscope: An evaluation of Echelon/Future42’s spring 2023 survey
This detailed analysis examines the flaws of a statewide public opinion research survey released by a right wing group in Washington State in late June of 2023.
Posted inElections
U.S. Senate sends bill to raise debt ceiling, satisfy Republican ransom demands to Biden
The so-called Fiscal Responsibility Act received yea votes from almost two-thirds of the Senate, passing 63–36. Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, Ed Markey, and John Fetterman voted no, along with independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and seventeen Republican senators.
Posted inLegislative Advocacy
U.S. House votes to raise debt ceiling, impose Republican-demanded austerity measures
By a vote of 314–117, the House adopted the so-called Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which “increases the federal debt limit, establishes new discretionary spending limits, rescinds unobligated funds, and expands work requirements for federal programs,” as summarized by Congress’ official legislative website.
Posted inLegislative Advocacy
Biden, McCarthy say they’ve reached a deal to respond to Republicans’ ransom demands
The White House announced late Saturday night that it has reached a deal with Kevin McCarthy and his deputies in the United States House of Representatives to avert a fiscal crisis that Republicans have been enthusiastically prepared to manufacture by refusing to provide the votes needed to raise the debt ceiling.
Posted inLegislative Advocacy
Legislature agrees on operating budget for 2023–2025 and sends it to Governor Inslee
ESSB 5187 is the vehicle for this year’s operating budget. Its title is making 2023–2025 fiscal biennium operating appropriations. It is prime sponsored by Senator Christine Rolfes (D‑23rd District: Kitsap Peninsula), the Chair of the Ways & Means Committee, which has budget writing responsibility in the Senate.
Posted inPolicy Topics
With Kevin McCarthy unable to rein in his fascist faction, Republicans in Congress are increasingly battling each other
The Grand Old Party cannot come up with any debt ceiling strategy. Its investigations are slow off the ground and looking at groundless allegations. Its House and Senate caucuses are split on whether the U.S. should continue to assist or abandon Ukraine.
Posted inLitigation
A roundup of reaction to the Supreme Court’s Quinn ruling upholding WA’s capital gains tax
Read what elected officials, advocacy organizations, and other think tanks are saying about the Washington State Supreme Court’s decision upholding the capital gains tax on the wealthy.
Posted inLitigation
VICTORY! Washington State Supreme Court upholds new capital gains tax on the wealthy
The Court voted 7–2 in favor of finding that Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5096 (the law that created the capital gains tax) is indeed an excise tax. The majority opinion, authored by Associate Justice Debra L. Stephens, also rejected the Quinn plaintiffs’ other arguments, affirming the law’s constitutionality.