Thousands Signed In Against an Income Tax Bill, Now It's Time to Contact Your Legislators Directly
This afternoon legislators heard the first committee hearing on the state income tax bill. Thousands of Washington state citizens signed in to oppose this destructive and shortsighted bill. Now is the time to contact your legislators directly to let them know how you feel, and it's easier than ever on our TAKE ACTION page. Make your voice heard!
Urge the Washington State Legislature to Protect Food Availability
Washington state’s food producers concluded the 2024 growing season with negative $295 million in net income. Yet legislators are still willing to risk our agriculture industry with costly and harmful bills that would offer false senses of safety through paying dues to a collective bargaining unit that has no legal authority to protect workers from crimes. Help stand up for food affordability by contacting your legislators here.
How to Support, Oppose or Flag Concerns about Washington State Bills
As a Washington state citizen, you don't have to watch from the sidelines as good bills die or bad bills pass. Help common sense prevail by engaging with policymakers during the process, before it's too late. Our written guide helps you understand how to do that easily. READ MORE
OPPORTUNITY
The Income Tax Proposal: What You Need to Know.
Senate Bill 6304 won't solve the deficit, won't make the tax code fairer, and won't provide meaningful relief to working families. What it will do is create a new revenue stream that lawmakers will spend, setting up the next deficit and the next tax increase. And when that happens, the income threshold will drop, just like it has everywhere else that has an income tax. READ MORE
Washington’s Proposed Income Tax - Driving Businesses and Jobs Out of the State
Nationally, states with high individual and corporate income taxes experience greater out-migration than those relying more on sales taxes. With the damage this income tax would do to Washington, our state would face a similar future. READ MORE
Health Care Doesn’t Get More ‘Affordable’
by Making Insurance More Expensive
Increasing taxes on insurance premiums is a surefire way to increase health care costs. With health care being an increasing area of concern for people, this is the exact opposite approach lawmakers should be taking. READ MORE
ACCOUNTABILITY
HB 2251, Weakening Oversight While Expanding Climate Spending
The Climate Commitment Act was passed with promises to fund projects that reduced carbon emissions. This new legislation would allow legislators to take back that promise and make themselves less accountable in the process. READ MORE
SB 5924 Would Expand Prescribing Authority to Medication Experts
Allowing pharmacists prescriptive authority recognizes what their training is already built around: drugs and the conditions they treat. This would provide a much needed expansion in health care access for people in our state who must often wait months before seeing a doctor to get a necessary prescription. READ MORE
How many people you know would guess that Washington ranks 45th -- near the bottom -- for business taxes? Or that our state operating budget increased almost 49 percent (AFTER adjusting for inflation and population control) since the 2012-2015 budget? The legislative session is coming up quickly. To make informed decisions about how to best govern our state, we must acknowledge where we are. WPC's Report Card for Washington's Future gives you the data you need to cut through rhetoric and see where our state needs course correction.
A new study shows that red light cameras often cause more collisions, rather than fewer. The unintended consequences of this policy encourage lawmakers to consider other policy examples where good intentions don't guarantee good results.
WPC provides solutions, analysis and insight essential to the well-being of our state and government accountability. This year we face the biggest challenge yet to our state's future. Washington is already losing its competitive advantages and a state income tax will accelerate our decline. We hope you and others you know will join us in this fight for Washington's future.
