Washington Dems will push a bad gamble: a state income tax | Opinion

Last year, my colleagues and I stood on the House floor and warned that the state budget had reached a terminal state. We sounded the alarm until we exhausted ourselves.

We warned that a government growing twice as fast as the economy is not just unsustainable. It is a plague on personal and economic prosperity. It is a siren screaming that impossible consequences are coming if we don’t address our spending addiction.

Those warnings were dismissed as misinformation. The Democratic majority claimed they were responsible budgeters, even as they avoided basic questions: Why does “responsible budgeting” require inventing new ways to tax people every year? Why does it require 130% revenue growth since 2013, outpacing inflation two-fold, population growth by nine-fold, and even outpacing skyrocketing insurance rates, which grew by 112% over the same period? And how can a government with such extraordinary revenue growth still be in deficit?

You only need to look at the governor’s mansion for the answer.

When Gov. Bob Ferguson took office, he signaled support for fiscal sanity. His actions quickly departed from those expectations, culminating in the largest tax increases in state history. Some assumed a master chess player had feigned conservatism while delivering progressive largesse.

They missed the apparent truth: You cannot tax your way out of a budget built on the assumption of 4.5% growth in a 1% economy.

Is the man in Olympia a puppet of the Legislature or a grand strategist? I argue he is neither. He is a gambler, and the stakes are now dangerously high.

Ferguson’s newly released 2026 supplemental operating budget reads like a gambler’s high. It appeals to moderation and clever rhetoric, but on inspection, it looks like desperation. It raids the family’s safe to play one more hand, while shifting money between accounts to hide the losses.

His strategy, by his own public statements, is to bet the farm on a Massachusetts-style income tax. He hopes that, if he waits long enough, he can break Washington’s constitutional ban and force an income tax on the people. Not to fix the system, but to stay in the game.

To understand this scheme, you must understand the Washington one-two punch.

First, the governor proposes a so-called cuts-only budget to appear fiscally responsible. But he doesn’t cut excess or bureaucracy. He cuts essential lifelines. He slashes nursing home subsidies, reduces support for people with developmental disabilities, caps child care access and blames the federal government for state-level austerity decisions. The most vulnerable citizens are placed at risk, creating pressure for legislative action.

Second, the Legislature steps in. Democratic lawmakers point to the governor’s painful cuts and declare, “We have no choice! We must pass an income tax to save services!” They present themselves as rescuers from a crisis shaped by their own policy choices.

This rescue plan relies on misdirection, drawing attention to immediate pain while obscuring long-term consequences. The bluff is especially bold because these proposed income tax mechanisms or capital gains expansions wouldn’t generate revenue until at least 2029.

To bridge the gap, the governor proposes raiding $1 billion from the Budget Stabilization Account, our rainy-day fund.

That fund exists for wildfires, earthquakes and major recessions. It does not exist to cover the bad bets of a government that refuses to budget responsibly. Burning it now leaves us defenseless against the next real crisis.

Consider what’s already in the budget. Support for people with developmental disabilities is effectively paused, with the caseload of unserved clients skyrocketing past 20,000. Families are left to fend for themselves while state government adds employees and reduces services. Child care access is further capped, driving up costs and reducing availability. Running Start opportunities are gutted even as the state continues to expand its university system amid declining enrollment.

This pattern repeats across Olympia. The bureaucracy is protected. The citizens it serves are treated as expendable chips.

We are not a game, and our budget is not a gamble. An income tax is not a cure. It is simply more chips for a player who doesn’t know when to quit. The money exists, but it is being devoured by administrative bloat rather than directed to the duty of care we owe our citizens.

The governor has made his case. Now the Legislature must create ours. Washington doesn’t need a new tax scheme. It requires an intervention. Let’s demand a budget that values people more than the system that claims to serve them.

Rep. Joshua Penner, R-Orting, represents the 31st Legislative District.