IP26-645 opposition coalition unveils new polling, legal research as Brian Heywood prepares to turn in signatures for ta
Right wing mega-millionaire Brian Heywood’s bid to overturn legislation that would require 20,000 of Washington’s wealthiest individuals to pay a 9.9% tax on incomes above a million dollars a year could be a tough sell with the voting public this autumn, especially given the risk that it could jeopardize more than just that yet-to-be-collected revenue source, the coalition opposing Initiative 645 asserted this week.
New polling and legal research unveiled this week by the coalition defending Senate Bill 6346 (to which the Northwest Progressive Institute belongs) challenges the invincibility narrative Heywood has been trying to create with his frequent online postings.
On Monday, the coalition shared a legal memo from Pacifica Law Group prepared for Millionaires Tax For Washington, which concluded that if 645 were to be implemented, it would eliminate an estimated $12.9 billion in projected revenue from 2029 through 2032. Because most of the investments enacted alongside the tax wouldn’t be rescinded (including an expansion of the Working Families Tax Credit), the total projected fiscal impact would be approximately -$16.6 billion through 2032. Future legislatures would have to close that gap through cuts or alternative sources of new revenue.
The memo also contends that I‑645’s broad prohibition on taxes imposed on or “measured by” individual income could create legal uncertainty for Washington’s capital gains tax on the wealthy (which funds the Education Legacy Trust) and the payroll taxes funding unemployment insurance, Paid Family and Medical Leave, and WA Cares. The Attorney General’s Office and a Thurston County judge have previously acknowledged similar concerns about identical language, the memo notes, so passage of 645 could produce years of litigation and uncertainty over billions of dollars in annual revenue.
https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2026/07/ip26-645-opposition-coalition-unveils-new-polling-legal-research-as-brian-heywood-prepares-to-turn-in-signatures-for-tax-repeal.html