Reports & Articles
We are prevented from realizing shared prosperity because of the robber baron practice of buy, borrow, die.
Washington state’s taxes require too little of those with the highest incomes.
Washington’s upside-down tax code not only furthers inequity, it also creates annual deficits in the state’s budget.
The general fund is our state’s affordability workhorse — the primary source of money for our most essential public services that help reduce costs for millions of us.
Nearly one-third of Washingtonians are unable to pay for their basic needs with earnings alone.
The Millionaires Tax provides the most substantial small business tax break in Washington state history.
Washington’s current tax system asks more of middle- and low-income households than of the wealthiest earners in our state. The Millionaires Tax is a sensible and measured first step in balancing our tax code.
Relative to income and population growth, Washington’s budget has actually declined by 60% overall.
This report provides a series of data snapshots that illustrate our state’s progress toward embedding the values of fairness, care, and opportunity into the foundations of our economy.
A millionaires tax would help take the pressure off of the majority of Washingtonians — nearly a third of whom cannot currently meet their basic needs — by increasing access to cost-reducing programs.
We can do things differently here in Washington state.
More economic inequality leads to less opportunity, increased rates of poverty, and more instability. Solutions like a progressive tax system could reverse some of these trends and create more fairness, opportunity, and joy for hardworking Washingtonians.
Together, these solutions will help keep our health care system working for those it was created for: the patients.
Life is unpredictable, and nearly everyone will need to take extended leave from work to deal with uncertainties. HB 1213 provides Washingtonians with what they need to care for themselves and those they love through it all.
The wealth tax would treat the Wall Street wealth of multi-millionaires and -billionaires, currently tax exempt except when sold, more like how our homes are treated in the tax code.
The benefits of a strong minimum wage are well-documented: reductions in poverty and income inequality, greater business activity and job growth, and a host of other improvements for workers, families, and communities.
Initiative Measure 1 will provide a higher minimum wage for more people working in Burien over time.
These differences illustrate how the structures of our government are partially determinative of the political conversations we have.
The truth is, Optum and other mega giants are buying up our health care system – and patients are paying the price. So what can we do about it?
Lawmakers can easily close this big tech loophole next legislative session and greatly expand supports for Washingtonians seeking higher education.
Sometime in the mid-90’s, company decision-makers began boosting pay for high-wage employees. They’ve never looked back.
The health care crisis in Washington state is more urgent than ever.
Washingtonians hate wealth inequality and the skyrocketing cost of living. Taxes on the rich are relatively popular and the programs that would be funded through these new, progressive taxes, even more so.
This fall we have a choice: hand the ultra-rich a tax break they don’t need or preserve funding for Washington’s youth. We think it’s a no-brainer.
As medical debt reaches untenable highs across the country, we must make protecting patients our top priority.
Access to capital at key points in a young person’s life is crucial to begin building individual wealth.
Whether it’s on a family budget or local and state economies, every one of these anti-LGBTQ laws would have either direct or rippling economic effects.
Washington’s paid leave policy does take these needs into account – and it provides necessary coverage for those who use it.
This initial status report provides a landscape of wealth tax proposals and enacted taxes that show there is a growing movement of state lawmakers working to make the public revenue system more fair.
Good wages are critical to self-resiliency and survival, especially in an expensive city like Seattle.
Our state legislature should invest in low-income families the same way that the wealthy have been able to do for their own.
We are already failing our elders and others who need care in our society. We can and should do better.