Issue Position: Fixing Our Regressive and Inequitable Tax Structure

Issue Position

Our tax structure in Washington is the most regressive in the country. In fact, the lowest income folks in our state pay seven times more in taxes as a share of their income than the wealthiest 1%. This is wrong and it's not sustainable. We cannot continue to fund our most vital programs on the backs of the poor and working class, while the wealthy and corporations receive massive tax breaks and don't pay their fair share. The time to fix this is now.

Modernizing the Code
We are funding our government on the backs of low-income and middle-class families, and small businesses rather than asking the wealthiest among us and large corporations to pay their fair share. We must end tax handouts to corporations who ship jobs out of state and work to reform the code to reduce our reliance on sales and property taxes.

Reducing Tax Breaks
For too long, large corporations have benefited from tax breaks that we were told would eventually trickle down to the middle class. Corporations should only receive these tax breaks if our working families see the benefits through higher wages or better benefits. The old argument that providing corporations with tax breaks will keep them in our state has been proven false, time and time again, and we can no longer afford to believe large companies when they promise jobs in exchange for tax breaks, and then break that promise.

Increasing Transparency and Accountability
If large corporations receive tax breaks from our state, our workers deserve to know what direct benefits they will receive. We should not provide corporations with tax breaks if they lay off Washington workers or do not pay their workers a healthy, living wage.

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