Olympia Democrats blew a multi-billion-dollar hole in the budget with years of reckless spending—then patched it together with new taxes, budget gimmicks, and an income tax voters have rejected ten times.
Democrats “Solve” Their Budget Crisis the Only Way They Know How: Spend More, Tax More, Cross Fingers
In the final hours of the legislative session, Washington Democrats pushed through an $80.2 billion operating budget for 2025–27—an almost 12% increase in spending despite already facing a multi-billion-dollar deficit. To make the numbers work, lawmakers relied on a familiar playbook: new taxes, draining reserves, one-time transfers, and accounting tricks that kick the real problems down the road.
A centerpiece of the budget is Democrats’ new “millionaires’ income tax,” which conveniently won’t generate revenue until 2029 but allows them to claim the budget balances on paper today. That’s assuming the courts don’t strike it down first—a real possibility given Washington voters have rejected income taxes ten separate times.
In the meantime, Democrats raided $880 million from the state’s rainy-day fund, tapped pension accounts meant for retired first responders, and eliminated tax exemptions to scrape together the money needed to keep spending rising.
And while they claim the budget protects priorities, some of the largest cuts fall on childcare subsidies and education programs, including Running Start and transitional kindergarten.
Republicans warned the math simply doesn’t work. Current projections show the plan sliding back into a $878 million deficit by 2028, with the entire budget dependent on a controversial tax that may never survive the courts.
In other words, after years of runaway spending, Democrats’ “solution” is an $80 billion house of cards built on future taxes, drained reserves, and the hope that nobody checks the math until the next budget crisis arrives. Read more at Center Square.
Olympia’s Priorities: Tax the Farmers, Ignore the Farm Crisis
Washington’s agriculture industry is facing a financial collapse, but judging by the 2026 legislative session, Olympia Democrats didn’t seem particularly interested in doing anything about it.
According to USDA data cited by Save Family Farming Executive Director Ben Tindall, Washington now ranks dead last in the nation for farm profitability, with farmers losing nearly $400 million in 2024 and projected to lose even more in 2025.
So what did lawmakers do about it? Not much.
The one proposal that could have offered meaningful relief—House Bill 2616, the Washington Farm Bill—never even received a vote before the session ended. While farmers were pleading for help, legislators instead spent time pushing policies that critics warned would make the situation worse, including a card check unionization bill and an environmental crimes proposal that many feared could be used by activist attorneys to target farm operations. Both ultimately died, one of the few pieces of good news for an industry already on the ropes.
Tindall didn’t mince words about the disconnect between Olympia and the reality on the ground.
“Olympia cannot claim to support agriculture while ignoring the economic collapse happening on the ground,” he said.
His warning for the next legislative session was blunt: if lawmakers keep ignoring the crisis facing farm families, many farms may not survive long enough to see another chance at reform. Read more at Seattle Red.
Democrats Bulldoze the Constitution to Ram Through Income Tax
The The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board delivered a scathing assessment of Washington Democrats after lawmakers approved a new 9.9% tax on household income above $1 million, warning that the move ignores the state constitution, dismisses public opposition, and rigs the rules to keep voters from reversing it.
The tax cleared the Washington State House of Representatives on a 51–46 vote and now heads back to the Washington State Senate, where Bob Ferguson is expected to sign it.
Washington’s constitution prohibits an income tax, and voters have rejected the idea ten separate times. That history didn’t stop Democrats—and neither did public opposition. More than 100,000 Washington residents registered against the bill, but Manka Dhingra brushed it aside, saying lawmakers would take the opposition “with a grain of salt.”
The editorial board also highlighted a legislative maneuver tucked into the bill: a “necessity clause.” That clause prevents voters from challenging the tax through a referendum. In other words, if the tax were truly popular, Democrats wouldn’t need to block voters from weighing in.
Even the fine print suggests the tax may not stay limited to millionaires for long. Lawmakers stripped out annual inflation adjustments and replaced them with a slower formula tied to national CPI, meaning the $1 million threshold will rise far more slowly than the real cost of living in Washington. Over time, that pulls more taxpayers into the system—turning a “millionaire’s tax” into a broader one.
The Journal’s editorial board concluded that Democrats are essentially betting the courts will protect them—just as the Washington Supreme Court did in 2023 when it upheld the state’s capital gains tax.
Their blunt takeaway: Washington Democrats spent years warning about threats to democracy—then passed a tax the constitution forbids, ignored massive public opposition, and blocked voters from undoing it. Read more at Seattle Red.
Seattle Times Cartoonist Crosses the Line—Again
Far-left Dave Horsey is once again drawing criticism after a new cartoon and column that mocks female officials with sexist stereotypes and compares a Jewish adviser to Nazi ideology.
In the piece published by The Seattle Times, Horsey reduced Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi to “Barbie doll” caricatures—reviving the “ICE Barbie” nickname for Noem and inventing another label for Bondi, which he called “Cover-Up Barbie.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Horsey then turned to Stephen Miller, who is Jewish, referring to him as “Mein Kampf Ken”—a direct reference to Adolf Hitler’s infamous manifesto Mein Kampf.
The unhinged comparison crosses a clear line. Comparing a Jewish public official to Nazi ideology would likely spark immediate outrage if it came from a conservative commentator. Coming from Horsey, the response has been far more muted.
It also isn’t the first time his work has drawn backlash. In 2017, while writing for the Los Angeles Times, Horsey body-shamed former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, describing her as a “slightly chunky soccer mom.” The criticism forced him to issue a public apology and the passages were later removed.
Even the Seattle Times appears aware of the recurring controversy. The paper has disabled comment sections on Horsey’s cartoons entirely, saying reader responses repeatedly violated community standards and required too much moderation.
Horsey frequently presents himself as a defender of women and democratic norms. But critics argue his record—from body-shaming a female press secretary to reducing cabinet officials to plastic toys and invoking Nazi imagery—suggests something very different. And despite the repeated controversies, the Seattle Times continues to publish him. Read more at Seattle Red.
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