(The Center Square) - Public sector unions, which will directly benefit from the millionaire's tax, make up virtually all the contributions to the campaign against the initiative to repeal Washington’s newly enacted income tax, according to the Public Disclosure Commission.
The PDC reports that three public sector union contributions make up almost all the contributions to the "No on 645" campaign, with the Washington Federation of State Employees alone responsible for $1 million or half of the donations. The SEIU 775 Ballot Fund and SEIU Initiative Fund donated $500,000 each.
Aside from those three donations, there have been a handful of small contributions between $110-$20.
WSFE is is one of the largest unions for public sector workers in the state and has roughly 40,000 members. SEIU 775 is also one of the largest public sector unions in the state, representing home care and long-term care workers.
The Center Square reached out to both WSFE and SEIU 775 requesting interviews to discuss the contributions.
“Defeating I-645, and preserving all the accompanying tax cuts for working and middle-class families and small businesses that the Millionaires Tax funds, is the most important thing we can do to make our tax code more fair and to avoid deep cuts to core public priorities like education and health care," SEIU 775 Secretary-Treasurer Adam Glickman wrote in a statement to The Center Square. "We have work to do between now and November to educate voters about the harms I-645 would cause, and we are confident we will have the resources necessary to make our case to Washington State voters.”
Glickman would not do an interview on the topic, and the WFSE did not respond to requests for comment
However, I-645 sponsor and Let’s Go Washington Founder Brian Heywood told The Center Square that the public sector union’s exclusivity with contributions to defeat the initiative “tells you absolutely who's going to benefit from the from an income tax, right?
"They're they're spending big money to protect an income tax," he said. "Why is that? Is it because they love the children and small puppies and seals? No, it's because they got their hand in the trough.”
I-645 would repeal a newly enacted income tax that currently has an exemption for individuals who make less than $1 million a year. Expected to generate $3-4 billion annually, the majority of the revenue would go into the state general fund.
The Center Square has previously reported on emails obtained showing the bill prime sponsor, Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, collaborated with the State Attorney General’s Office on crafting the bill with the primary purpose of forcing the state Supreme Court to reconsider prior rulings that make a progressive income tax illegal in Washington state.
After the income tax was passed by the state Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Bob Ferguson, there was an unsuccessful lawsuit by Let's Go Washington to allow a voter referendum on the law. The organization then garnered enough signatures for I-645 to be placed on the ballot after it was certified by the Secretary of State's Office.
While acknowledging that the makeup of organizations and individuals contributing to "No on 645" could change in the months to come, Heywood said the unions are clearly focused on benefiting themselves.
"Anyone that goes down to Olympia will always tell you, yeah, SEIU WA, they're running all the legislation coming out of Olympia, and so I think the PDC gives us an insight into who are these guys," he said. "The unions are self-interested, un-taxed, and greedy greedy grifters.”
