(three images from over a decade of my organizing around tax reform)
This election presents a crucial moment for how we fund our future. Three right wing, billionaire- backed “Let’s Go Washington” anti-tax Astroturf initiatives are on the ballot. We need working people everywhere not only to vote them down, but begin the work of showing the mega rich and politicians of all stripes that we are sick and tired of a tax system that unfairly burdens the poor, the working class, renters and homeowners over wealthy elites.
The Initiatives are I-2109, I-2117, and I-2124. I-2109 harms our children and childcare workers, I-2124 harms our vulnerable senior populations, and I-2117 harms the planet… so… all of us. Each are horrific attacks in their own right. I am campaigning against all and encourage my supporters to do the same. You can learn more at Defend Washington. But I want to elevate the importance of voting against I-2109.
I-2109 would roll back Washington’s recently won, hard fought Capital Gains tax, which only
affects our 4,000 richest investors and has provided almost $1 billion in desperately needed new funding for child care, early learning and education. This money takes care of our children, lowers the cost of care to working folks, and begins providing decent pay and dignity to child care work. These things benefit all of us.
This money comes from a small tax on the super elites. It charges 7 percent to investors on earnings from stock trades when they make over $250.000 in profits a year. Almost no one reading this makes that kind of money, and very few of you will ever even be regular stock traders. The truly crazy thing is the tax actually raised far more than originally intended. That's because stocks have been trading at all time highs and elite investors have been making tons of cash.
The same rich guy behind all this also ran three other regressive initiatives that the Legislature voted to pass on their own (you can read my opposition to their decision on an anti-Trans youth initiative here). One initiative bans the legislature from passing an income tax. This means that the Capital Gains tax is currently our strongest opportunity for progressive revenue, that it is under serious threat, and that the only way to truly flip our terrible tax structure will be through a Constitutional Amendment or a Referendum to voters (which I support).
Part of the problem with taxes with Washington is in how we talk about them. You’ll notice I’m using plain, fiery language here. That’s not only because it’s true that our tax structure is rigged, racist and regressive, but because it resonates with voters. Ample research suggests that folks understand these things when you put them in plain language and call out who is to blame, rather than speaking in technocratic terms, or using weaker framing around the system being “broken” or the rich needing to “pay their fair share.”
Working people know things are rigged against them and want that changed. The way we get that change is by mobilizing them around their deeply, widely felt issues, connecting those to oppressive economic structures, and organizing together to overturn those structures. So let’s get organized today, not only to protect this critical funding going to childcare, education, elder care and the environment, but to sow the seeds for a truly progressive taxation system that lowers inequality and benefits the vast majority of Washingtonians.
That’s what we mean when we say we’re fighting for a future that works for all. I hope you join that fight today.
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