I-645 COULD SECRETLY ELIMINATE MUCH MORE THAN THE MILLIONAIRES TAX
One of the most successful methods of tackling economic inequality while improving health and employment outcomes for working families is direct, unrestricted, cash assistance. Washington has successfully executed this for several years through the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC), our state’s version of an Earned Income Tax Credit.
The Millionaires Tax legislation, which passed earlier this year, included an expansion of the WFTC which would result in 460,000 additional households and 352,000 more children becoming eligible for the credit. This could make a real difference for working families. Our partners at the Washington State Budget and Policy Center offer many examples of the impact the WFTC expansion could have, including the following scenario:
A single dad with an 8-year-old, making $65,000 a year as a King Country Metro bus driver. Under the new income limits, he can get a credit of $660 to help cover food expenses for the whole month.
I-645 would stop the WFTC expansion in its tracks and threaten other essential programs
Initiative 645, bankrolled by multi-millionaire hedge-fund manager Brian Heywood, would eliminate the Millionaires Tax, and consequently the funding intended to support the WFTC expansion. Although Heywood’s initiative attempts to keep the expansion, without the revenue from the Millionaires Tax there will not be enough money in the state budget to fund it.
Additionally, recent legal analysis of the initiative exposes another grave threat to the financial stability of Washington families. Because I-645 would prohibit any taxes calculated based on income, it is likely that I-645’s passage would also eliminate Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave, Long-Term Care, and Unemployment Insurance programs — which are paid for by annual payroll taxes based on employee wages. All three of these programs provide much needed relief and assistance to working Washingtonians, and their elimination would cause untold consequences for households across the state who are already experiencing financial hardship.
It is also likely that I-645 would result in the repeal of Washington’s capital gains tax; in direct defiance of the will of the people who, by a 64% majority, voted to reject Heywood’s 2024 attempt to repeal it.
Brian Heywood and his ultra-wealthy friends are more concerned with giving themselves a tax break than with the harm this initiative would cause to hundreds of thousands of Washington families. Vote NO on I-645 in November!