Spin Control: With fees up and initiative proposals down, nearly half take aim at millionaires tax

The state’s so-called millionaires tax is providing a wealth of ammunition for conservative commentators predicting an exodus from Washington. It’s also pumping a little cash into the state coffers even before it goes into effect in 2029.

The tax was the impetus behind 15 of the 32 proposed initiatives to voters filed with the secretary of state’s office this year. The others – which are apparently languishing without a signature-gathering effort – include 11 also looking to ban some form of an income tax filed before the millionaires tax passed. Four others involve initiative rights, one would require state officials to cooperate with the feds on immigration matters and one, by the head of the state Republican Party, would have required all registered voters to prove they are citizens before the 2027 election.

By historic standards, 32 initiative proposals aren’t much. There were 129 filed in 2022, another 82 in 2023 and 76 in 2024. But two years ago, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs upped the filing fee of $5, which hadn’t been changed in about 115 years, to $156.

After that, proposed initiative filings dropped last year to 22.

The increase meant the 32 initiative proposals this year brought in just shy of $5,000, with $2,340 of it coming from those designed to scuttle the millionaires tax. In 2022, which was something of a high-water mark for initiatives to the voters, total fees amounted to just $645.

The increase puts a crimp in the wallets of political gadflies and initiative entrepreneurs who previously could plunk down a five-spot to toss just about any idea against the wall and see if it would stick. It does not, however, discourage people with deep pockets or those deeply committed to a cause.

The millionaires tax struck a chord with both, including hedge fund manager Brian Heywood, who filed 12 versions of an initiative to repeal the tax. Heywood has decided, however, to put his considerable weight behind a version submitted by Chantell Mellott of North Bend, who managed to file a proposal that didn’t prompt a challenge to the ballot title drafted by the attorney general’s office.

They began gathering signatures in mid-May and must submit at least 308,911 valid signatures from registered voters by July 2. That doesn’t sound like much time, but Heywod-backed ballot measures have met that goal in tight time frames before, and state Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, a backer of the tax, told the Washington State Standard he had no doubts they could do it again.

If the signature-gathering succeeds, the challenge to the millionaires tax would join two measures that the Legislature ignored last session, one involving parental notification of certain school information and another limiting participation in school sports to a student’s biological gender.

On gas prices

With climbing gasoline prices, U.S. Rep. Mike Baumgartner and some of his fellow Republicans in the Legislature have called on Gov. Bob Ferguson to give consumers a break and suspend temporarily the state’s Climate Commitment Act, which creates a system of allowances for companies that produce greenhouse gases. Oil companies pay for some of those allowances and pass the cost on to consumers.

Ferguson has declined, saying the main reason for higher gas prices is the conflict with Iran that President Trump started.

Some members of both parties have called on Trump to suspend some or all of the federal gasoline tax for the same reason. Trump has so far declined to do that.

Having driven across Washington, Idaho and Montana in recent weeks, I can appreciate the call for cheaper gas but wonder if some of the attention should be directed at the oil companies, which seem to have free rein to charge whatever they think they can get away with.

For instance, the price of gasoline went up within hours of when Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, even though almost none of the crude oil the United States uses passes through the strait and the gasoline in the pumps was from prewar crude.

During my recent peregrinations, the price of gas in Idaho went up 30 cents a gallon over two days in May, even though there was no real change – for better or worse – in the war with Iran. In Montana, the price of gas was essentially the same whether the station was in a town of about 500 two hours off the interstate or the outskirts of Missoula. The price of unleaded regular was about the same in Idaho and Montana, but the price of diesel varied by as much as $1 a gallon, not just from state to state but from town to town.

And yes, we filled up near Stateline even though we weren’t close to empty.

Back in Olympia, the difference in the price of regular gasoline can vary by about $1 per gallon just traveling down the arterials on the way to the Capitol. Clearly, it’s not just the taxes responsible for the higher prices.