Voters in Washington state are projected to reject a conservative-backed ballot initiative that would have repealed the state’s new “millionaires tax” before it took effect and barred new income taxes in the future, according to The Associated Press.
“No” votes were leading “yes” votes 58% to 42% with more than three-quarters counted as of Friday morning.
The new 9.9% tax on individual income over $1 million is expected to hit an estimated 20,000 households in the state, or less than 1%. But a political action committee backed by a hedge fund founder rallied to stop the tax before it’s implemented in 2028, claiming the levy would push wealthy residents out of the state and pave the way for taxes on the middle class.
The repeal effort in Washington, known as Initiative 645, is part of a broader backlash by the rich against state-level efforts to tax the wealthy.
In California, Silicon Valley titans have poured millions of dollars into trying to defeat the so-called “billionaire tax” that would impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on the state’s ultrarich. The results of that measure are not clear as counting continues in California, though votes in support of the tax are trailing.
Washington’s millionaires tax is expected to raise an estimated $3 billion a year. It includes a standard deduction of $1 million, meaning filers are only taxed on their annual income above that amount. For example, an individual who earned $1.2 million in 2028 would pay $19,800 under the tax.
The state is one of just nine that historically have not had an income tax. Proponents of the repeal effort argued the millionaires tax would open the door to new ones that hit less-wealthy households. But the state’s Democratic governor, Bob Ferguson, has promised he would veto any effort to do so.
Money raised from the millionaires tax would go toward expanding free meals in public schools and a state tax credit for working families, among other priorities. It would also create sales-tax exemptions for necessities like diapers, soap, shampoo and over-the-counter drugs, and double a tax credit for small businesses.
Ferguson campaigned against the repeal effort, saying it jeopardized child care subsidies and other safety net funding.
“It would break my heart to lose access like this for thousands and thousands of kids all across the state,” he said at a Seattle child care center in October.
Several states are facing budget shortfalls created by President Donald Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which slashed federal healthcare and food assistance, and are looking to new taxes on the wealthy to make up the difference.
The main group behind the millionaire tax repeal effort, Let’s Go Washington, is sponsored by Brian Heywood, a Seattle-area hedge fund founder who has bankrolled other right-wing ballot initiatives. Heywood’s group also spearheaded a pair of anti-trans measures that made it onto this year’s ballot in Washington.
Even though the millionaires tax has survived the repeal effort, it still faces a legal battle before it goes into effect. A group of business owners has sued the state, arguing that the new tax violates the state constitution. Among the plaintiffs are the National Federation of Independent Business trade group and a half-dozen residents who earn more than $1 million a year.
