State lawmakers in Puyallup area ask residents about WA budget, cost of living
The Washington state legislative session started on Jan. 12 – and politicians are already in heated debate over the state budget.
Three Republicans – Sen. Chris Gildon and representatives Cyndy Jacobsen and Michael Keaton – sent out a mailer to their constituents in the 25th Legislative District, which covers Puyallup, South Hill, Midland and parts of Parkland. In the mailer, they told residents they were concerned about the state’s financial health, following 2025’s legislative session.
“Our Democratic colleagues used a self-inflicted multibillion-dollar budget shortfall to justify the state-record $12.5 billion package of new and higher taxes they passed during the 2025 session — yet their new state budget is already predicted to be $1.5 billion in the red,” the mailer said.
The 2025 legislative session was defined by a record-breaking budget shortfall, many new taxes and federal funding cuts. With many of these issues set to be at the center of the 2026 session, here’s a look at what the state lawmakers in East Pierce County had to say in the mailer.
The state’s budget shortfall
Gildon, Jacobsen and Keaton were correct when they said the state is suffering from a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall. Rep. Tim Ormsby, a Democrat who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, has said the current deficit is $4 billion just to keep current services and programs.
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Democrats passed the highest tax increase in state history in 2025. The Washington State Standard cited $9 billion in tax increases.
Gildon, Jacobsen and Keaton also claimed the new state budget is estimated to be $1.5 billion short. Washington’s Democratic governor, Bob Ferguson, seems to agree with them – on Dec. 23, 2025, he said the state is facing a $1.6 billion shortfall in its supplemental budget. However, he did add that this will be $2.3 billion when taking into consideration things like federal Medicaid cuts and essential state agency budget requests.
Are Democrats considering new taxes?
In the mailer, Gildon, Jacobsen and Keaton described three new tax hikes on the table for 2026:
- A statewide jobs tax
- A “new style of property tax on financial assets”
- A new state income tax
Democratic Rep. Shaun Scott from Seattle proposed the jobs tax in December. His legislation would take effect July 1, 2026 and impact private employers with employees counting an annual salary of more than $125,000. These employers would have to pay a 5% tax on payroll expenses, which would go into a new fund called the “Well Washington Fund.”
In the December news conference, Scott said this would generate $2 billion per year and would go toward health care – such as Medicaid – and education and human service programs that are getting cut at the federal level.
The property tax on financial assets refers to Senate Bill 5797, which Democrats spearheaded during the 2025 session. The initial bill would have put a tax rate of $10 per $1,000 on some financial assets, such as stocks and bonds, which would generate $50 million for public schools. Lawmakers have said this would apply to 4,300 Washingtonians.
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Democratic state Sen. Noel Frame from Seattle later added a substitute, which would change the tax rate from $10 per $1,000 to 34 cents per $1,000. The bill did not make it out of committee.
The new state income tax refers to a proposed “millionaires tax.” The Washington State Standard reported that a 9.9% tax would go into effect for residents with an adjusted annual gross income of over $1 million.
In a news release on Dec. 23, 2025, Ferguson announced support for the measure.
“Ferguson also supports codifying the $1 million threshold, with appropriate adjustment for inflation, into state law,” the release from the governor’s office says. “In other words, the millionaires’ tax would be paid on income over $1 million in its first year; and while the amount of annual income that triggers the millionaires’ tax will rise due to inflation, that amount will never impact more than 99 percent of Washingtonians.”
25th Legislative District Survey
The mailer also included a QR code and link to a survey. Questions in the survey ask residents:
- How rising costs have impacted them over the past year, such as housing, groceries, gas, health care and more.
- How they feel about the 2025 tax increases.
- How they want their legislators to tackle housing costs in Washington, which are higher than the national average.
- How they have been impacted by Washington’s high gas prices.
- Which public safety issues are most important to them.
- Which issues they want their legislators to prioritize during the legislative session to “improve K-12 outcomes.”
- How they feel about top education issues in the state right now, and what they think should be a top priority in the legislature.
This story was originally published January 13, 2026 at 11:00 AM.
