Washington faces an enormous deficit for the upcoming budget cycle. To ensure we have the resources needed to invest in the basic services and infrastructure we all rely on, lawmakers should adopt new progressive revenue sources. This will help address the state's structural deficit and make our tax system more equitable by taxing those who can afford to pay more.

Lawmakers should not balance the budget going forward by cutting funds for services that are critical to the most vulnerable people in the state. Instead, they should focus on a balanced approach to the budget that includes increasing revenue.

The Washington State Budget & Policy Center outlined two steps that lawmakers should take to address the state's budget challenge:

1 - Embrace and pass overwhelmingly popular progressive revenue options that will offer sustainability in our state budget by making sure that the ultra-wealthy pay their share of taxes to support critical community services.

2 - Reject cuts to the budget that will devastate the programs that so many people across our state rely on. We know from what happened with the state budget following the Great Recession that making deep cuts in the operating budget will disproportionately impact households that are living in poverty, including Black and Latinx households that felt budget cuts the most in those prior years. We should not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Key points:

• Washington has the second-most regressive tax structure in the country. This means that lower income households pay a greater share of their income for taxes than middle income and upper income households. Only Florida has a more upside-down tax code than Washington.   
• Attempts to overturn progressive tax policies like the capital gains tax and the Working Families Tax Credit, which both launched in 2023, have failed in the courts and through a ballot initiative in 2024, showing that Washington voters believe that wealthy households should pay their fair share of taxes to support critical state services.