cross-posted from: https://piefed.blahaj.zone/c/washington@lemmy.world/p/1064835/wa-voters-upholding-millionaires-tax-in-tuesday-vote

In Washington’s biggest tax fight in decades, voters were backing the state’s new high-earners income tax in Tuesday’s vote count, rejecting an initiative that would repeal it.

Initiative 645, the tax-repeal proposal, was trailing with 58% of voters opposed. The “no” vote was bolstered by a huge margin in Democrat-dominated King County, where 66.5% of voters were against I-645. It also trailed in Snohomish and Pierce counties.

If Tuesday’s result stands, it would mark a tectonic shift in Washington’s tax code, ending the state’s holdout status as one of a handful without an income tax — keeping in place what backers called the “millionaires tax” passed by the Legislature this year.

Courts will likely still have the last word on the tax as a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality is pending.

Hundreds of thousands of ballots remain to be counted in the coming days.

The mood at the No on 645 campaign, at Seattle’s Reverie Ballroom, was upbeat as national results confirmed a good night for Democrats and liberal causes.

Speaking to the crowd, state Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, the prime architect of the tax, framed the historic vote as a long-sought win.

“For 93 years, we have been saddled with an anchor around our neck, with a tax system that is bad for working people, that’s bad for small businesses, that’s bad for just about everybody except for the 1%,” he said.

More in the article.

  • cheers_queers@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    38
    ·
    18 hours ago

    i feel like i’m suddenly in a different country than the one i got accustomed to for the last ten years. wdym we taxing billionaires now? i forgot what being alive felt like.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      13 hours ago

      Just don’t get ahead of yourself, this is when the real work begins. And the right will continue to make it an uphill battle.

    • OfficeMonkey@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      41
      ·
      17 hours ago

      Sadly the results on the “trans sports bans” weren’t as progressive. Places where it lost it was close, and counties where it won it won big.

      Who chooses female genital exams over the risk of a “biological male” competing in a sport??

      • cheers_queers@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        31
        ·
        17 hours ago

        i am a trans person and i have to understand i can’t die on this hill rn. josh turek just won my state and i will accept that, because the alternative is so much worse. that doesnt mean i am not severely disappointed by the lukewarm attitude toward my struggles here in iowa. it means that i will take what i can fuckin get.

        • taiyang@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          12 hours ago

          At least with a decent majority, they won’t have to rely on Turek (or the other transphobes) on every vote, so you may still see some gains for trans rights at the national level. It also helps that some house races came out very pro-trans, so these issues may be taken up seriously at committee and even without a majority there can be some vote trades to get better civil right protections for trans folk.

          So yeah, take what you can get- it’s still a great night.

      • CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zoneOP
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        20
        ·
        17 hours ago

        Yep, if not rejected by the WA courts, this now means that any girl wanting to play sports will have to undergo exams. The way the WA initiative is written, it will only affect girls.

        The ACLU and many other trans rights groups have vowed to fight it up to the state supreme court.

          • velma@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            ·
            14 hours ago

            Sports physicals don’t include genital exams or determining biological sex.

            You may be thinking of boys getting hernia checks, but as far as I am aware, doctors only check if there’s a risk or symptoms of a hernia these days.

          • CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zoneOP
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            14
            ·
            17 hours ago

            As far as I understand, they weren’t always required for every girls K-12 league. This makes it so it’s required.

            It also obviously bans trans girls from competing in any sports, even if they have the same hormone levels and build as afabs. Previously, this was allowed by the state.

    • subignition@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      17 hours ago

      if you’re looking to be disappointed again, the sexist genital inspection bill is currently passing by a frustrating margin

      • CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zoneOP
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        20
        ·
        17 hours ago

        Yeah, it’ll probably pass, which is depressing as a trans person. But the Dems also just swept the judicial branch, and the ACLU along with other progressive groups vowed to fight it as it’s likely unconstitutional (at the state level).

        There’s a chance that it’s heavily modified or thrown out like previous initiatives were. We’ll see.