Due to an ongoing budget deficit, the state must choose between cuts or new revenue. State budget cuts will hurt our communities, and a cuts-only approach will also make it impossible to address any of the funding gaps to homelessness, housing, food assistance, and more that are all being created by ongoing federal budget and policy decisions. Lawmakers should reject an all-cuts budget and ensure that the wealthiest individuals and most profitable corporations contribute their fair share by passing significant progressive revenue in 2026.

Washington has the second-most regressive tax structure in the country, which means that lower-income households pay a greater share of their income for taxes than middle-income and upper-income households. Only Florida has a more unfair tax code than Washington.

Lawmakers must seriously consider a number of progressive revenue options in the 2026 session. Among them:

• A millionaire's tax
• A high salary payroll tax, House Bill 2100

Washington voters have made it clear that they support having the wealthiest residents pay their fair share of taxes to support critical services.

Key points:

• Attempts to overturn progressive tax policies like the capital gains tax and the Working Families Tax Credit, which both launched in 2023, have failed in the courts and through a ballot initiative in 2024, showing that Washington voters believe that wealthy households should pay their fair share of taxes to support critical state services.

Progressive revenue is critical to fund housing and homelessness interventions at the scale of need, and to urgently speeding up affordable housing production – a key policy element in the Housing Alliance's "Roadmap to Housing Justice," a comprehensive strategy to end Washington's housing crisis. Learn more at wliha.org/roadmap