“We are facing falling revenue, rising costs, and budget cuts and chaos coming from the Trump administration,” Gov. Bob Ferguson said. “I’m providing a road map for the Legislature. This is, of course, the first step in a conversation about how best to balance our budget.”
Some legislative Democrats are eyeing a 9.9% “millionaires tax” on adjusted annual gross income over $1 million. Ferguson endorsed this version of the proposal. Less than 0.5% of Washingtonians would be subject to the tax, and it’s expected to raise $3 billion per year.
The next legislative session is fast approaching and some state lawmakers are wasting no time in signaling their intent to either fully remove or limit the impacts of the slew of new state taxes approved in the 2025 legislative session.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson unveiled a plan Dec. 19 to steer $3 billion into preserving the state’s roads and bridges and building three new ferries over the next decade.
New federal legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse would expand tax incentives for investments in new nuclear energy projects in the U.S., which the Washington Republican said puts the energy source on parity with other sources.
Several of the latest bills pre-filed for the coming 2026 legislative session have the potential to expand or increase business and occupation, or B&O, taxes, according to fiscal think tank Washington Research Council.
Gov. Bob Ferguson warned Dec. 2 that the budget proposal he’ll release this month will rely solely on spending cuts and not higher taxes to overcome what he says is a multi-billion dollar shortfall.
