(The Center Square) – Former Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna, Citizen Action Defense Fund (CADF) and former Supreme Court Justice and State Senator Phil Talmadge today filed a lawsuit in Klickitat County Superior Court challenging the newly enacted income tax.
The so-called millionaire’s tax amounts to a 9.9% tax on income above one million dollars annually, or combined household income above that threshold, starting in 2028 to fund a number of programs and to provide some tax relief to small businesses and lower income Washington families.
At a Thursday press conference discussing the lawsuit, CADF Executive Director Jackson Maynard said a wide range of plaintiffs have joined the case, including farming interests, builders and a trucking company owner, the Building Industry Association of Washington and the National Federation for Independent Business.
“These are people from all over the state who work their fingers to the bone every single day, taking care of their families, employees, customers and clients,” Maynard said. “They’re building homes and offices, they’re putting food on the table, and making sure that goods are transported, so people in our state have what they need.”
The Ethnic Chamber of Commerce has also joined the suit and former State Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge is representing their interests.
“The communities we’re talking about are people that are largely small businesses that are aspirational,” said Talmadge in an interview with The Center Square after the morning press conference. “They want to grow. They want to expand their businesses, and they want to generate significant income. And what’s the response from the state? We’re not only going to tax you in your business capacity, but we’re going to tax you on your income. They’re concerned about that.”
McKenna said the newly signed law violates both the state constitution and the will of the voters, adding that if lawmakers want an income tax, it must be uniform.
“That means Washington can have an income tax if it follows the rules for property taxes. It has to be uniform and no higher than 1%,” McKenna said. “It isn’t just one Supreme Court ruling that reached this conclusion. It has been a series of decisions that have looked at he plain language of the Constitution.”
During the Thursday news conference, McKenna was asked about recent comments made by Gov. Bob Ferguson suggesting every time he has faced McKenna in a legal challenge, he has won and he expects the income tax fight will be no different.
“I think it’s very telling that Bob wants to personalize this and doesn’t want to address the legal issues involved here,” McKenna said. “He was attorney general. He’s a lawyer. He understands what it means to have plain language in the Constitution and to have a series of Supreme Court decisions. This is not a boxing match. This an important question of law but he doesn’t want to talk about the law.”
Upon news of the new lawsuit, Invest in WA Now issued a statement that said in part: “At a time when many of us are struggling to afford the basics, mega-millionaires and extremist groups are trying to hurt millions of Washingtonians by taking away the biggest state tax cuts they’ve received in many years.”
Invest in WA Now’s top contributors are the Washington Education Association, the Washington Federation of State Employees and Service Employees International Union Washington State Council.
Talmadge, who served 16 years in the Washington legislature and a single six-year term on the Washington Supreme Court, told The Center Square he is confident that the state’s high court, even with some changeover expected after Fall elections, will uphold prior rulings on the income tax matter.
“Courts are inherently conservative with this principle of following prior precedent, and these people respect that principle,” Talmadge said. “I have no doubt of that, whoever the voters choose to elect,”
