More of Democrats’ plans to eat the rich

Plus TurboTax turbocharges the Working Families Tax Credit and some recommended reading

Editor’s Note: Former Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposed wealth tax got a lot of ink when he rolled it out in December. Today we look at some lower-profile plans to harpoon the state’s financial whales.

Could the taxman cometh for the CEOs?

Washington’s richest CEOs might have to cut the state a slice of their ginormous pie if a bid to nibble away at the ultra-rich succeeds.

House Bill 1785 from Rep. Beth Doglio, D-Olympia, would slap what it calls a surcharge on corporate bigwigs at making 50-150 times the median salary of the average employee at their respective companies circa 2026.¹ That means total compensation, so stock options, bonuses, you name it. Rates would start at 10% for the former group of bigwigs and 25% for the biggest bigwigs.

The number of fat cats who stand to pay that tax in Washington wouldn’t be enough to form a soccer team. Leading the pack are Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella; T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert; Zillow CEO Rich Barton; James Lico, who leads the Everett-based industrial goods manufacturer, Fortive Corp; and Costco CEO Ron Vachris. Combined, all five CEOs made $147 million in 2023, per the Puget Sound Business Journal. Nadella made out with $48.5M alone that year.

On its face, HB 1785 has a lot for the eat-the-rich crowd to love and the state’s billion-dollar budget deficit should make it all the more appealing. It remains to be seen if Democrats can cast the head honcho of a beloved northwest institution like Costco as a political boogeyman. There are no hard numbers yet on how much revenue HB 1785’s tax on “excessive chief executive officer pay” would yield either.

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