Working families are maxed out. It’s time to tax the rich.

Our legislators have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure stable funding for education, health care, and essential services — and to stop balancing the budget on the backs of working families

by APRIL SIMS

Sims speaks at a rally on the Capitol steps in support of the Millionaires Tax. Photo: SEIU Local 1199NW

(March 9, 2026) – Thousands of union members have taken time away from work and their families to come to Olympia this session and make a direct ask of our lawmakers: tax millionaires to fund education, health care, and child care. With only a few days before the 2026 session comes to a close, working people are looking to our state legislators to pass SB 6346, the Millionaires Tax, taking decisive action to preserve essential state services while ensuring the ultrawealthy pay their fair share. 

SB 6346 would establish a 9.9% tax on income over $1 million. Estimates indicate it would be paid by about 20,000 people – fewer than .5% of Washingtonians – and still bring in about $3.7 billion in annual revenue. Legislators have worked hard to ensure raising tax revenue from the rich is coupled with meaningful tax relief for working families and small businesses. With an amendment from House Finance chair Rep. April Berg (D-Mill Creek), SB 6346 would extend the Working Families Tax Credit to 460,000 additional families. It would remove sales tax on over the counter medication, diapers, and hygiene products. It would provide free school lunch and breakfast for all Washington students. It includes the largest small business tax decrease in state history. And 5% of revenue from the Millionaires Tax would be dedicated to funding early learning and child care, providing savings for working families and bolstering the state’s economy. 

SB 6346 is a significant step forward in stabilizing the state’s finances and easing the disproportionate burden on working families. 

Critics of the millionaires tax say government spending is bloated as a result of poor budget management. That argument prizes ideological belief over fact. Washington Budget & Policy Center analysis indicates the state’s revenues and budget are actually smaller today than it was in the 1990s, adjusted for economic growth. Washington’s population has grown significantly, with more people using our schools, parks, roads, and healthcare systems. Years of inflation and more recent changes in federal trade policy have caused prices to skyrocket, meaning the state must spend more to buy the same products and services than it has in the past. On their own, these factors would put state finances in a bind.

But it gets worse. Trump’s landmark legislation passed last year, H.R. 1, will strip billions in federal funding that Washington uses for health care, childhood nutrition, services for students, seniors, and disabled people, and more. The same legislation that cuts programs that support working families hands the wealthiest Americans and corporations huge tax breaks.

Hundreds of union members from across Washington gathered in Olympia in February to urge legislators to pass the Millionaires Tax.

It’s just one way we’re seeing massive transfers of wealth from working families to the richest people in the history of the world. Since 2017, the number of billionaires in this country has grown by 50%. Their wealth has increased by more than 120%, largely as a result of tax policies that favor the rich at the expense of workers as well as massive corporations putting money into stock buybacks. This has fattened investors’ pockets even as pay stagnates and the workers who create their profits rely on food stamps. It’s a trend that has seen the richest 1% in the U.S. rake in nearly 1,000 times more wealth than the poorest 20% over the past three decades. 

So here we are. The rich are getting richer, working families are struggling, and our tax code is a dysfunctional relic of a past century and a far different economy. 

We are left with a choice. We can raise taxes once again on working families. We can slash billions from programs that feed kids and help families afford doctors visits. Or we can tax the rich to fund essential services like education, nutrition, child care, and health care.

Working families have no more to give. Kids need to eat. We owe every child equal access to education. The only moral choice is to tax the rich.

This isn’t fringe and it isn’t radical. Millionaires pay taxes on their income in 41 states. Most Washington voters support a tax on the highest earners in this state in order to fund education, health care, and child care for working families. 

Taxing the rich is popular because it’s a straightforward question of fairness. Working families pay our taxes to support the state we all love. It’s time the wealthiest among us paid their fair share. 

 April Sims is President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. Widely considered the voice of labor in Washington state, the WSLC is the largest labor organization in Washington, representing more than 650 local unions and 600,000 working people statewide.