Governor signs off on the
largest tax increase in state history
Dear Neighbor,
Admittedly, the odds were not good that Governor Ferguson would buck his fellow Democrats in the state Legislature by vetoing any of the tax increases they approved in April, in support of the new state operating budget.
Still, there was a chance Ferguson would stand by something he had said with little more than a week to go in our legislative session. In a television interview, he had declared that “the most important thing” was avoiding tax increases that hit Washington’s working families. The majority Democrats basically ignored him, voting to expand the sales tax and also clear the way for property-tax increases.
The answer came this past week: Everyone will be paying more, because on May 20 the governor signed each bill in the largest package of tax increases in Washington history: A huge increase in the tax on businesses, an expansion of the capital-gains income tax and death tax, a bill with a smorgasbord of smaller tax increases, and the so-called “Tesla tax,” on top of the hike in the sales tax and the bill to allow property-tax increases.
Republicans had encouraged Ferguson to use his veto pen on the tax package. If he had, we were more than willing to return to Olympia for a short “overtime” to adjust the budget accordingly. Instead, the governor vetoed just one part of the tax-smorgasbord bill, preserving a tax deduction for “interest that community banks receive on loans for residential property.” That’s it.
And with the stroke of a pen — literally — this past week, Gov. Bob Ferguson supported the largest tax increase in state history by signing the state’s new operating budget.
Governor’s vetoes hit locally
Despite what the governor had said while we were still in session, he did not veto any of the new taxes that will hit families directly. However, he was not as shy about vetoing sections of the budget and other legislation connected to our 16th District.
There was a $100,000 appropriation in support of improving access to the project to clean up the contamination at an underground gasoline storage tank in downtown Walla Walla. Ferguson vetoed it, while (fortunately) leaving intact the $3.5 million appropriation in the capital budget for the same project.
But what got me more was his veto of $200,000 budgeted for the Hospitality Center of Excellence at Columbia Basin College. “Though this is a worthwhile endeavor, I am vetoing this item because of the state’s significant fiscal challenges and funding cuts from the federal government,” is how it read in Ferguson’s veto message — a sentence used to justify many of the other budget vetoes he made.
Hold on, Governor. As a fiscal conservative, I appreciate saving tax dollars, but you just approved $9.5 BILLION in new state taxes, then turn around and act like a penny-pincher?
Also, of the 420-odd bills passed during the 2025 session, the only one fully vetoed by the governor happened to belong to my 16th District seatmate, Rep. Klicker: his legislation to look into what’s primarily driving the costs of home ownership and rental housing in Washington.
House Bill 1108 passed with overwhelmingly bipartisan support, yet Ferguson canceled it with his veto, basically saying there have been enough such studies already. Rep. Klicker’s reaction is reported here. I’d be upset too.
The $16 billion lie
One more thing about the budget situation: It’s gotten to where most every news story you read or hear about the budget and the new taxes mentions how legislators faced a “$16 billion” shortfall. You should know that number is made up, and Ferguson inadvertently confirmed as much when signing the new operating budget.
Democrats “viewed” the shortfall as $16 billion, he acknowledged in response to a reporter’s question. That vindicates Republicans, who all along had argued, based on calculations done by non-partisan budget-committee staff, that the shortfall was actually $7.5 billion, and could be addressed without any new taxes whatsoever — as the Senate Republican “$ave Washington” budget proposal proved.
For more on this deception, I encourage you to read “The $16 billion lie behind the largest tax increase in state history” from Senate Republican Leader John Braun, with whom I serve on the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Earlier this month I joined two of my Senate neighbors, Sen. Mark Schoesler of the 9th District and Sen. Nikki Torres of the 15th District, for a post-session conversation with talk-show host Robb Francis at Pasco’s KONA radio. To listen to the interview click here.
Signing of anti-parent bill
raises question: What’s next?
Every session has its controversial bills, but I can’t think of any that have hit as close to me as the legislation to undo parental rights put into place less than a year ago.
As the prime sponsor (three years running!) of Senate legislation to create a parents’ bill of rights, I was pleasantly surprised when the Let’s Go Washington organization went in that same direction with Initiative 2081.
That measure was passed by lawmakers in Olympia during the 2024 session, but then Democrats went after it at their first opportunity — this year’s session. They passed House Bill 1296, which was among the last group of bills to be signed by the governor on May 20.
I responded to the signing with this statement (click here for the full version, including background):
“While this is a setback for the parents who want and deserve to know more about what’s happening with their children at school, let’s be clear: this isn’t over. Republicans are going to keep working to defend the rights of parents and reestablish the access to important information that was lost today when this new law took effect. At the same time, we should expect that the supporters of this bill will keep trying to get between parents and their children.
“There’s a reason the I-2081 law required that parents have access to certain information, like prior notification when non-emergency medical services are being offered to their child during school hours. Obviously, the majority Democrats also have a reason for wanting to do away with that. They haven’t been entirely transparent about why they targeted certain parental rights, but they had the votes to ram this through anyway.
“It’s revealing that the new law literally puts a new list of ‘student rights’ ahead of the rights of parents and guardians. The same goes for insisting that it contain the ‘emergency clause.’ There’s no emergency here – not with a month left in the school year. But that language also shields a law from the simplest kind of voter challenge, which is through a referendum.
“The governor said today that a ‘safe learning environment’ is a priority, which is fair – but I have to believe most parents are interested in knowing what their students are learning, not just whether the learning environment is safe. They don’t want the school district, meaning government, to interfere with their authority as parents. The prime sponsor of the bill indicated this policy is also a priority for the education community, to which she belongs, and that raises questions as well.
“Finally, consider how so many of the Democrats voted for I-2081 during last year’s session, then turned right around this year and voted for the bill to undermine it. That makes you wonder how sincere they were about supporting parental rights in the first place. With Republicans, there’s no need to wonder – we’ll keep standing with parents and students.”
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I am working to make living in our state more affordable, make our communities safer, uphold our paramount duty to provide for schools, and hold state government accountable. I’ll work with anyone who shares those goals and wants to find solutions.
Please reach out to my office with your thoughts, ideas and concerns on matters of importance to you. I am here to serve and look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
