{"id":3087,"date":"2026-02-06T15:07:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T22:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/bateman\/?p=3087"},"modified":"2026-02-06T15:07:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T22:07:58","slug":"funding-schools-by-taxing-millionaires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/bateman\/2026\/02\/06\/funding-schools-by-taxing-millionaires\/","title":{"rendered":"Funding schools by taxing millionaires"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear friends and neighbors,<\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad to let you know that one of the most important bills of the session has been introduced \u2013 the Millionaires Tax proposal, to raise funding for schools, health care, and services by taxing the few households in our state making more than $1 million in income each year.<\/p>\n

Under the bill, SB 6346<\/a>, yearly household income over $1 million a year will be taxed at 9.9%. Nothing under $1 million a year will be taxed. That means only about 20,000-30,000 households will pay this tax. It will raise about $3.7 billion a year, which we\u2019ll be able to invest in fully funding education and providing health care and essential services that are more important than ever with the cuts coming from the federal government under Trump\u2019s H.R. 1.<\/p>\n

The bill also includes tax cuts \u2013 an expansion of our Working Families Tax Credit, a doubling of our small business tax credit to help more small businesses, and removing the sales tax from everyday essentials at the store like hygiene and grooming products, just like we don\u2019t tax food.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important to note what this tax doesn\u2019t do \u2013 this is not a broad-based tax on everyone. This is a narrow, targeted tax on the people who can afford to pay and are already getting huge benefits from our upside-down and unfair tax system. We know that Washingtonians making less than $33,500 a year pay 13.8% of their income in state and local taxes while those making over $878,000 pay only 4.1%. This bill would just ask those wealthy few, who are making so much wealth in an economy with growing inequality, to pay what they owe.<\/p>\n

I am proud to be a co-sponsor of this bill and look forward to working with my colleagues to perfect this bill and pass it into law.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Progress on housing<\/strong><\/p>\n

This week, we also passed one of the most important deadlines of session, when bills have to pass out of a policy committee in their chamber of origin. As the chair of the Senate Housing Committee, I\u2019m glad I was able to advance a couple important bills to move us forward on housing affordability and homelessness prevention.<\/p>\n