Tax policy news galore for the end-game
A smaller cigarette tax, fresh tidbits from the income tax rewrite, never mind on that airplane tax, and data centers in the crosshairs again
Editor’s Note: Welcome to the last week of the 2026 Washington Legislature. We’re all tax policy, all the time today.
A shrinking cigarette tax hike
The House Finance Committee is poised to gut a tax hike on cigarettes that health advocates say is long overdue.
When it was introduced this session, Senate Bill 6129 aimed to hike Washington’s tax on tobacco products by around $1.97 per pack— putting it among the highest in the country.
The proposal from Sen. June Robinson, D-Everett, now stands to raise that tax by just 25 cents per pack if a House Finance committee amendment passes. That’s a world of a difference for your average pack-a-day smoker.
You could almost hear the record scratch in Olympia where anti-tobacco advocates are making some noise about this on and offline. Seattle pediatrician Yolanda Evans made the case that the bill’s differential rates are a matter of life and death for the more than 10% of grown (and underage) Washingtonians who smoke.
