By Jake Goldstein-Street | Reporter
Four leading voices in the fight over the ballot measure to repeal Washington’s controversial new income tax on millionaires engaged in a spirited forum on Thursday in front of hundreds of civic and business leaders. The state is now less than a month away from the election that will decide the tax’s fate, at least at the ballot box, while litigation looms.
Also in today’s edition…
• A potential cut to the state’s developmental disabilities services.
• Progressive groups push a wealth tax in Oregon.
• And, the president’s tariffs animate some voters
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Brian Heywood, leader of Let's Go Washington, speaks at a press conference in Tumwater on July 2, 2026, before the group turned in signatures for Initiative 645. (Photo by Jerry Cornfield/Washington State Standard)
By Jerry Cornfield
Brian Heywood, the hedge fund manager behind Initiative 645, and House Minority Leader Drew Stokesbary, R-Auburn, argued onstage at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue that the tax is unnecessary, will drive some wealthy innovators to other states and, eventually, will be levied on people earning far less than a million dollars a year.
On the other side, Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, and Soleil Boyd, executive director of the Children’s Alliance, defended the income tax as a necessary stride toward fixing a regressive system in which those who make the least expend a greater percentage of their earnings on taxes than the state’s wealthiest.
By Jake Goldstein-Street
As part of its requests for the state’s next two-year spending plan, the state Department of Social and Health Services suggested restricting eligibility for developmental disability services could save $13.3 million, about $6 million of which would come from the state’s general fund.
The suggested change would end Medicaid eligibility for an estimated 2,655 residents, according to the department. It would mean some people receiving care in residential facilities would lose their housing since it’s contingent upon qualifying, potentially pushing them into homelessness.
Advocates decried the proposal.
By Shaanth Nanguneri
Aiming to make up for lost revenue from federal benefit cuts, a coalition of powerful Oregon advocacy groups announced Thursday that they will launch a signature-gathering campaign for the November 2028 election to approve a wealth tax on some of the state’s richest households while cutting taxes for low-income residents.
By Ashley Murray
A growing number of voters are taking their anger about affordability to the polls this midterm election and blaming President Donald Trump’s tariffs as a culprit for rising expenses, public opinion surveys bear out. In a state-by-state breakdown of tariffs, the conservative National Taxpayers Union Foundation and Trade Partnership Worldwide found the top 10 states most affected by Trump’s tariffs — in the tens of billions of dollars — are California, Texas, Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio and Tennessee.
ICYMI
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