WA unions spend big to keep ‘millionaires tax’

The Washington Education Association plopped $2 million last week into the campaign against Initiative 645, bringing its total to $3 million and making the teachers union the largest single donor so far in the November ballot fight.

Unions representing state employees and publicly funded healthcare workers have also contributed seven-figure checks, juicing the No on 645 campaign’s barrage of TV ads, which started this week.

It’s a lopsided fight so far as voters prepare to pass judgment on the tax.

In all, the No on Initiative 645 campaign has raised $7.8 million, far outpacing the $1.3 million for the Vote Yes Repeal the Income Tax campaign that is supporting I-645. Let’s Go Washington, which ran the signature drive to get the initiative on the ballot, has raised another $3.7 million, some for initiatives concerning transgender athletes and parental rights.

The big labor donations spotlight the stakes for the influential public-sector unions, whose members’ jobs and salaries and the services they provide depend on the tax dollars flowing to the state budget.

“It’s a self-sustaining money machine for the interests that are funding it,” said Steve Gordon, a retired Pierce County trucking company owner and executive who chairs the yes on I-645 campaign, criticizing the role of the public-employee unions who also fund the campaigns of Democratic elected officials.

The new income tax, dubbed the “millionaires tax” by supporters, imposes a 9.9% levy on annual household earnings above $1 million. It’s projected to bring in more than $3 billion a year, but collections won’t start until 2029 — and won’t happen at all if voters pass I-645.

Financial pressures are growing on the state budget despite billions in new taxes, including the income tax, approved over the past two years by Gov. Bob Ferguson and the Legislature.

The Washington Federation of State Employees recently staged walk-offs to protest Ferguson’s insistence that the state can’t afford to offer pay raises next year.

Mike Yestramski, president of the union, said saving the income tax will help fix the state’s regressive tax code and prevent “austerity cuts” to state services.

Tani Lindquist, vice president of the teachers union, said educators fear a repeal of the new tax would punch a multibillion-dollar hole in the state budget, which funds K-12 education. Given that threat, she said the union’s $3 million political donation — funded by union dues — is well worth it.