Reporting from The Center Square revealed that Washington’s Secretary of State’s Office accidentally handed over unredacted internal emails exposing how state attorneys and Democrat insiders strategized to protect the state’s new income tax from voters.

The emails showed Deputy Solicitor General Karl Smith openly speculating that if voters were allowed to weigh in through a referendum, the Washington Supreme Court might never even get the chance to rule because the public would likely overturn the tax first. Which, coincidentally, explains why Democrats rushed to slap an “emergency” clause onto a tax that doesn’t even take effect until 2028.

Because apparently in Olympia, a tax that won’t be collected until 2029 is somehow an immediate emergency — but only when voters might have a say.

Center Square also uncovered internal discussions showing concerns about where the lawsuit should be heard, with one communication acknowledging the Washington Supreme Court was likely the most “favorable venue” available. Translation: Democrat insiders were carefully venue-shopping while publicly pretending this was all about fairness and legal principle.

Even more embarrassing for Olympia Democrats, the Secretary of State’s Office initially tried to claw back the accidentally released records after realizing what had been exposed. But as the Washington Coalition for Open Government pointed out, once government records are released into the public domain, trying to stuff them back into the transparency vault doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

The underlying lawsuit came from Let’s Go Washington, which challenged the constitutionality of the emergency clause attached to the so-called “millionaires tax.” Democrats inserted the clause after realizing voters might actually reject the income tax if given the opportunity.

And honestly, who can blame them for panicking? Washington voters have rejected income taxes repeatedly for decades. So rather than trust the public, Democrats decided the safer route was to block the referendum process altogether and hope the courts would protect their latest tax scheme.

In the end, the Washington Supreme Court upheld the emergency clause, shielding the tax from a referendum challenge. But thanks to Center Square’s reporting, voters got a rare glimpse behind the curtain at how Olympia’s political machine really operates when billions in future tax revenue are on the line. Read more at The Center Square.

Washington’s operating budget has ballooned from roughly $31 billion a decade ago to more than $80 billion today, yet progressive advocacy groups are somehow trying to convince voters that state government has actually been “shrinking.”

Groups like the Northwest Progressive Institute and Economic Opportunity Institute aren’t disputing the actual spending numbers because they can’t. Instead, they’re using carefully massaged ratios to argue that if the private economy grows faster than government spending, it somehow counts as a “cut.”

Translation: if Washington families and businesses become more successful, Olympia believes government deserves an even bigger slice of the pie.

The actual numbers tell a much different story. Inflation-adjusted state and local revenue per resident has risen dramatically over the past two decades, while taxes per resident are also near record highs. And those figures don’t even include the billions in new taxes Democrats passed in 2025 and 2026, plus the new income tax set to kick in later this decade.

Even more revealing, these same groups never argue government should shrink when the economy slows down. During recessions, they demand more spending. During economic booms, they also demand more spending. Somehow the answer is always higher taxes and a larger government.

The reality is Washington already has one of the most effective tax collection systems in the country. As incomes, spending, property values, and business revenue rise, Olympia automatically collects more through sales taxes, B&O taxes, property taxes, and real estate taxes.

But apparently record revenue, record taxes, and an $80 billion budget still aren’t enough for Democrats and their activist allies. So now they’re trying to redefine the meaning of “budget cuts” altogether — because defending the actual spending record has become impossible. Read more at the Washington Policy Center.

Seattle condo broker Jeff Reynolds says Washington Democrats are driving a “brain drain” out of the state as taxes, crime, and deteriorating street conditions push out the very people who built the region’s economy.

Speaking on The Jason Rantz Show, Reynolds warned that founders, tech workers, and high-income residents are increasingly fleeing to states like Texas, Florida, Nevada, and Idaho rather than stay in Washington under rising income taxes, capital gains taxes, and estate taxes.

And the housing numbers back him up. Reynolds says some Sammamish neighborhoods are seeing active listings surge by 250%, while a longtime relocation broker working with Meta, Amazon, and Apple employees reportedly has more unsold inventory than ever before.

Reynolds also pointed to Seattle’s worsening street conditions, noting buyers are far less interested in paying $800,000 for a condo while open-air drug use happens outside the front door.

The warning to Governor Bob Ferguson and Seattle progressives was simple: keep punishing productive people with higher taxes and failed policies, and Washington will keep losing the workers, founders, and businesses that made the state successful in the first place. Read more at Seattle Red.

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