Social and Economic Policy
Revenue

The League supports legislation that would promote a flexible, equitable tax structure that provides robust support for all government obligations and is based on sound economic policy, including measures that will support savings in government costs to do business.

Issue Team Chair: Cynthia Stewart, cstewart@lwvwa.org
 DOWNLOAD the Revenue Issue Paper [Coming soon]
Interested in getting involved with this topic? Contact Cynthia Stewart .


Take Action!

Updates


Get Involved

Overview
The prevailing issue this year is the state’s tax structure, which is inequitable and inadequate to meet the state’s financial needs. This, combined with the effects of federal budget cuts, particularly in the area of health care, will be the factor driving most other decisions.

There was an attempt in 2025 to pass the wealth tax, which would have generated more income from the most wealthy Washington residents, but it failed, in part because of lack of support from inadequate but would be helpful.

Overview of the 2025 Legislative Session
The state of Washington continues to have nearly the most regressive tax structure in the US, in spite of recent adjustments, such as enactment of the capital gains tax and the working families tax exemptions. An income tax is frequently discussed as a solution to this problem but is not being considered. In light of that, additional bills that would shift some of the tax burden to the higher income people in Washington, such as the wealth tax, were considered in 2025.


Updates
At times during the session, an Issue Chair may write a "Weekly Update" to provide more details on what happened during the week. When they are available, they can be found below


2026 Revenue Legislation
Bills in green are supported. Bills in red are opposed by the League. Bills in black the League is watching.


SB 5754 Creating the Washington state public bank.
This bill would provide authority to the state to activate a State Public Bank with a cooperative membership organization to lend to local and tribal governmental entities under certain conditions. It would permit local and tribal governments, along with the state, to be members of the State Public Bank. It would enable the State Public Bank to issue debt in the name of the bank rather than the state of Washington without creating state debt.

Other bills will be brought forward for action as they emerge with public hearing schedules.


How To Be Involved

  • Local Leagues in Washington have action chairs who coordinate action teams. Some local Leagues have health care teams to take action locally. Contact your local League action chair to find out and join.
  • Respond to Action Alerts in the Legislative Action Newsletter. These will primarily appear in the section of the newsletter related to revenue.

  • If you are interested in a particular bill, use the links above to go to the webpage for that bill. These pages include staff summaries and reports including who testified PRO, CON, or OTHER on the bill, if there has been a public hearing. There is also information about how to access videos of hearings that have been held. 

  • Contact Cynthia Stewart, Revenue Issue Chair, to receive additional information.

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League of Women Voters of the United States

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