It's Time for a Wealth Tax in Washington!

Tell the House Finance Committee to vote on the wealth tax today!

Thousands of Washingtonians made their voices heard last week to demand the Legislature balance our tax code. Now let's keep the momentum going. We can rewrite the rules of our tax code so nothing stands in the way of us providing quality public services and a good life for all our communities.

Let's show the House Finance Committee that Washingtonians want to balance our tax code and give everyone a chance to get ahead!

Subject: Now is the time to take real action to balance our tax code!
Dear Legislator,

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Thank you for taking up policies this session that will make a difference in our lives. Thank you to Chair Berg for hearing the State Wealth Tax, HB 1473, in the House Finance Committee on February 14th. We appreciate Rep. Thai for sponsoring this bill and the 42 Representatives who have co-sponsored this legislation.

I urge you to vote on HB 1473 and move the state Wealth Tax forward this session. The state Wealth Tax is a 1% property tax on the financial wealth of billionaires that will raise $3 billion a year to fund housing, education, disability services, and cash assistance to working families. Over 2200 Washingtonians signed-in in support of this bill when it had its hearing in House Finance on February 14th. To our knowledge, this is one of the highest levels of public support for any bill this session.  Furthermore, polling of Washington voters shows that 66% support the wealth tax, with cross-partisan support for this measure.

You, our elected lawmakers, have a responsibility to use your power to make our state a better place for all of us. Our state’s tax code is broken and as a result, all students don’t get the public education they need and deserve, especially special education students; we have a housing crisis statewide that is only growing in scale; and our neighbors with disabilities simply cannot get the timely and accessible supports they need to live a good life.

It's unconscionable that in a state as wealthy as ours, we still struggle to find the resources to sufficiently address these crises. HB 1473 is a practical tool to provide funding for these much-needed areas. The state wealth tax will only tax those in our state who have more wealth than they could ever spend in a lifetime. Lucky for them, their wealth will continue to grow even after paying this modest tax, while the revenue raised would be transformative to the rest of us who have felt the burden of decades of austerity, rising costs due to corporate consolidation and greed, and our state’s regressive tax code.

We urge you to take a vote on HB 1473 in a timely way during this session. We hear every day about the budget woes of our state and feel the pain of inaction to reform our tax system. Please move this bill forward!

The Economic Opportunity Institute (EOI) manages this page. You can contact EOI at info@eoionline.org.

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