(The Center Square) – State Rep. Jeremie Dufault, R-Selah, has introduced two bills for the upcoming 2026 legislative session to roll back some of the recently implemented tax hikes adopted by majority Democrats during this year’s session of the Washington State Legislature.
One bill would exempt live presentations from retail sales and use tax. The other bill would remove the new sales tax on gold and silver bullion, something Dufault says Washington has never taxed before and most neighboring states still don’t.
Dufault spoke with The Center Square about his bills this week.
“In the haste to pass these tax increases earlier this year, there were all kinds of good people who were caught up in these increases that should not have been caught up in these increases,” he said. “Food banks, nonprofits, school districts, CPR instructors, local piano instructors.”
House Bill 2101 would roll back a business and occupation tax expansion that now affects small group instructors – including piano teachers and CPR trainers – simply because they teach more than one person at a time.
“If you are giving a presentation to one person, you are not subject to B&O taxes. However, if you're giving a presentation to a small group of people, you are subject to the B&O tax,” Dufault explained. “So, for example, there's a piano instructor in my community, and she teaches group lessons. If she was teaching only one student at a time, she wouldn't be subject to the B&O tax, but now she is because she teaches four or five students at a time.”
He noted a CPR trainer in his district who is also impacted by the tax change.
“If he was teaching one-on-one, he would not have to pay B&O tax, but because he teaches to a small group of people, he's now subject to it,” Dufault noted. “So, the tax is a problem along with just the administrative burden that we're imposing on these folks who are doing very helpful things for our communities,” Dufault said.
House Bill 2093 would reinstate tax exemptions for the sale of precious metals and bullion.
“That one is a commonsense measure. Idaho doesn't tax it, Oregon doesn't tax it and what's going to happen is retail sales of gold and bullion in Washington are going to drastically decline and all the coin shops are going to go out of business because people can buy gold and silver in neighboring states, and we're just going to lose that business here in Washington,” Dufault said. “We don't pay sales tax on investments and that's what gold and silver purchases are.”
Dufault hopes both bills will get some attention during next year’s 60-day session, even though majority-party Democrats will control whether any piece of legislation gets a hearing.
“There's not a lot of time in the short session, and the clock is ticking, and it sounds like there's going to be a lot of conversation about an income tax,” he said. “And so, a lot of the attention will be there, and we'll just see how far we can get towards restoring common sense to our tax code.”
He was referring to Democrats introducing a wealth tax on those with annual income above $1 million. It would reportedly affect approximately 20,000 Washington households and could generate at least $3 billion annually.
Dufault told The Center Square it’s foolish for anyone to think the so-called “millionaire’s tax” will remain at that threshold.
“When the modern version of the federal income tax passed in 1913, it only applied to the wealthiest 1%. Now, two-thirds of Americans pay federal income tax,” he added. “If an income tax passes in Washington state, it will be a tax on you and your paycheck.”
According to a Dec. 23 news release from Gov. Bob Ferguson, he supports “codifying the $1 million threshold, with appropriate adjustment for inflation, into state law.”
The 2026 legislative session begins on Jan. 12 and runs through March 12.
