(The Hill) - Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) on Monday signed the state’s first income tax on residents making more than $1 million annually.
The “millionaire’s tax,” which advanced by the state Legislature last Wednesday and will impose a 9.9 percent annual tax on qualifying earners, is expected to boost the state’s budget by $4 billion.
The funds generated from this tax will go toward the state’s social services programs, including child care, school meals, tax credits for working families, and tax breaks for small businesses.
Ferguson called the new law a “historic day for Washingtonians” in a post Monday on social platform X.
In a speech Monday, the Democratic governor rebuked the cuts to federal health and nutrition programs in the GOP-led megabill last July.
“While Washington, D.C., is taking us backwards, the good news is here in Washington state, we’re moving forward, everybody,” Ferguson said. “And today, we’re taking a historic step forward to rebalance an unfair system.”
While Ferguson celebrated the win, Republican leaders in the state made their opposition known.
Washington state GOP Chair Jim Walsh called the new law “unconstitutional” and vowed to take legal action against the tax.
“The Washington State Republican Party is going to fight this unconstitutional state income tax scheme—and the cloud of lies around it—every inch of the way,” Walsh wrote in a post on X. “By initiative. By lawsuit. By state legislative campaigns. This year. Next year. In 2028. And beyond, if necessary. We won’t stop fighting for truth, transparency and rational taxes. Fight, fight, fight!”
Washington is the latest blue state to increase income tax on wealthier residents. Massachusetts voters approved a 4 percent surtax on annual incomes above $1 million in 2022. Rhode Island imposed a “Taylor Swift tax” on second homes worth more than $1 million in the state — the pop singer has a vacation house in Westerly, R.I.
Washington’s new tax will go into effect at the beginning of 2028, with the first income tax payments occurring the following year.
By Sarah Davis
March 31, 2026
