{"id":2378791,"date":"2024-12-11T08:26:02","date_gmt":"2024-12-11T13:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wa-democrats-point-to-initiatives-as-mandate-to-hike-taxes-on-wealthy-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-12-11T08:29:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-11T13:29:24","slug":"wa-democrats-point-to-initiatives-as-mandate-to-hike-taxes-on-wealthy-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wa-democrats-point-to-initiatives-as-mandate-to-hike-taxes-on-wealthy-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"WA Democrats point to initiatives as mandate to hike taxes on wealthy &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwa-democrats-point-to-initiatives-as-mandate-to-hike-taxes-on-wealthy-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2378791&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In Washington State, Democrats in \u2063the Legislature are indicating that tax increases will be necessary to address a notable projected\u200c budget deficit of $10 billion to $12\u200d billion. They are using the recent failure of three\u2062 out of four proposed ballot initiatives as a basis for\u200c this assertion, viewing it as a mandate for \u200dpursuing higher taxes on \u2063wealthy individuals. On November 5, voters rejected initiatives aimed at removing the state\u2019s Climate Commitment Act, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jeff-bezos-to-save-nearly-1b-in-capital-gains-taxes-by-not-living-in-washington-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Jeff Bezos to save nearly B in capital gains taxes by not living in Washington - Washington Examiner\">7% capital gains tax<\/a>, \u2064and allowing workers to opt out of the new long-term\u2063 care tax. \u200cHowever, voters \u2062did approve an initiative that \u2063prohibits the state from passing laws\u200b that would discourage the use \u200bof \u2062natural \u200dgas, which became effective on December 5.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">WA Democrats point to initiatives as mandate to hike taxes on wealthy<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1909066\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>(The Center Square) &ndash; Democrats in the Washington State Legislature have been hinting that tax increases will be necessary to deal with a projected operating budget deficit of between $10 billion and $12 billion &ndash; or&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_092e880a-b684-11ef-9154-174f2e0d697f.html\">more<\/a><\/strong>. They are pointing to the failure of three out of four ballot initiatives last month as an endorsement of sorts for pursuing tax hikes.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>On Nov. 5, voters rejected three measures: Initiative 2117 to repeal the state&rsquo;s Climate Commitment Act that requires companies to cut emissions via carbon credit auctions, Initiative 2109 to repeal the state&rsquo;s 7% capital gains tax, and Initiative 2124 to allow workers to opt out of the new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/neb-gov-ricketts-says-only-documented-workers-will-receive-vaccine\/\" title=\"Neb. Gov. Ricketts says only documented workers will receive vaccine\">long-term care<\/a> tax.<\/p>\n<p>Initiative 2066, which prohibits the state from enacting laws or regulations to discourage the use of natural gas, was approved by voters and went into effect on Dec. 5.<\/p>\n<p>At a&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/tvw.org\/video\/the-washington-observer-2024-re-wire-conference-2024121131\/?eventID=2024121131\">legislative preview<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;last week, Democratic leaders brought up the fact that a majority of initiatives were rejected by voters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If revenue is paired with important purposes, then I think we have a signal from the voters that they&rsquo;re willing to accept that, and they largely upheld the work that we&rsquo;ve done over the last six years,&rdquo; Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, said.<\/p>\n<p>House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Burien, agreed.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Our caucus has also very much taken note of the results of the initiatives that were on the ballot,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>They then segued into the possibility of tax increases.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So, you know, for those reasons, we are going to be seriously looking at a variety of options that might increase taxes on wealthy individuals and wealthy companies,&rdquo; Pedersen said.<\/p>\n<p>Fitzgibbon backed up his colleague.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So I think that we have heard loud and clear from Washingtonians that they want us to invest in education, that they want us to invest in long-term care, they want us to invest in a clean and healthy and sustainable environment,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>A Republican lawmaker cautioned Democrats not to read too much into three of the four initiatives going down to defeat, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">noting anti-initiative groups outspent pro-initiative groups  million<\/a> to $2 million.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So when you&rsquo;re outspent &hellip; that&rsquo;s going to move the needle, and you need to take that into consideration,&rdquo; House Minority Caucus Chair Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, said.<\/p>\n<p>Pedersen recently reiterated the idea of a wealth tax, specifically noting the failure of I-2109.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I suspect that we will need additional revenue, so we&rsquo;ll have a balanced approach,&rdquo; he told&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13seattle.com\/news\/wa-democrats-weighing-wealth-tax\"><strong>Fox 13 Seattle<\/strong><\/a>, going on to mention the possibility of &ldquo;taxing that wealth for people who have above, say, $50 million or more&hellip;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He stated that Washington has &ldquo;a complete exemption of intangible property, like stocks and bonds from the property tax. Also, that&rsquo;s something worth considering.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Chris Corry, R-Yakima, the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, strongly disagreed.<\/p>\n<p>He told Fox 13 Seattle that taxing stocks that fluctuate in value every year makes no sense, adding that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/to-cut-national-debt-welfare-reform-is-much-better-than-taxing-the-wealthy\/\" title=\"To Cut National Debt, Welfare Reform Is Much Better Than Taxing The Wealthy\">taxing unrealized gains<\/a> would drive innovators and investors out of the Evergreen State long-term.<\/p>\n<p>During this year&rsquo;s legislative session,&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/app.leg.wa.gov\/billsummary?BillNumber=5486&amp;Initiative=false&amp;Year=2023\">Senate Bill 5486<\/a><\/strong>, which would have created a &ldquo;narrowly tailored property tax on extreme wealth derived from the ownership of stocks, bonds, and other financial assets,&rdquo; with the first $250 million of assessed value exempt from the tax, failed to pass the Legislature.<\/p>\n<p>The 105-day 2025 legislative session convenes on Jan. 13.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1909066\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1909066\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WA Democrats see ballot results as a push for higher taxes on the wealthy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2378792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24014160536170-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[13239,43293,46566,32076,12268],"class_list":["post-2378791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-initiatives","tag-tax-hike","tag-wa-democrats","tag-washington-examiner","tag-wealthy"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24014160536170-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2378791"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2378795,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378791\/revisions\/2378795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2378792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2378791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2378791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2378791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}