Frustrating game. On to the next one. #GoHawks

Amazing story of conservation using our best friends- dogs!

Washington just did something it spent nearly a century telling voters it could not do. On March 30, 2026, Governor Bob Ferguson signed Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 6346. Beginning January 1, 2028, the state will impose a 9.9 percent tax on household Washington taxable income above $1 million. First returns and payments are due in 2029. Lawmakers called it a “millionaires tax.” The statute created an entire new title of the Revised Code — Title 82A — to collect it. That is not a side issue. It is the first statewide personal income tax Washington has ever enacted, after voters and courts spent 90 years saying no. The constitution they had to work around Article VII, Section 1 of the Washington Constitution is unusually blunt: All taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of property… The word “property” as used herein shall mean and include everything, whether tangible or intangible, subject to ownership. In 1933 the state Supreme Court applied that language in Culliton v. Chase and held that income is property. A graduated tax on income is therefore a non-uniform property tax. It is unconstitutional. The 1 percent aggregate levy cap in Article VII, Section 2 is a second independent problem for a 9.9 percent rate. Voters have not been ambiguous about this. Initiative 69 (a graduated income tax) passed in 1932 and was struck down the next year. Constitutional amendments to allow an income tax failed in 1934, 1936, 1938, 1942, 1970, and 1973. Separate income-tax ballot measures failed in 1944, 1975, 1982, and 2010. In 2024 the Legislature itself enacted Initiative 2111, which prohibited the state and local governments from imposing a personal income tax. SB 6346 did not amend the Constitution. It carved the new tax out of I-2111 — but only “so long as the standard deduction is at least $1,000,000 for a household.” It also declared the tax “necessary for the support of the state government” so it could not be referred to the people, and directed the Department of Revenue to keep building the collection machinery even if the law is in court. The legal theory the state will use is the same one that saved the 2021 capital-gains levy in Quinn v. State (2023): call it an “excise” on the receipt of income rather than a tax on the income itself. That distinction is now the entire ballgame. A Klickitat County lawsuit filed in April 2026 by the Citizen Action Defense Fund argues it is still a property tax on income, still non-uniform, and still over the 1 percent cap. No court has ruled yet. What they actually did to pensions The tax does not hit most retirees today. A household has to clear $1 million of Washington taxable income — built from federal adjusted gross income, with a single shared $1 million deduction for a married couple. Pension checks alone will not get a typical PERS or LEOFF retiree there. That is not the point of what the Legislature did. Public-pension statutes in Washington have long contained a hard shield: the benefit, the right to the benefit, and the money in the fund “are hereby exempt from any state, county, municipal, or other local tax.” SB 6346 opened those statutes and added a new subsection to each of them: Subsection (1) of this section does not exempt any pension or other benefit received under this chapter from tax under Title 82A RCW. The enrolled bill amended at least these thirteen provisions: RCW 2.10.180, 2.12.090, 2.14.100, 6.15.020, 41.24.240, 41.32.052, 41.34.080, 41.35.100, 41.37.090, 41.40.052, 41.44.240, 41.26.053, and 43.43.310. That covers judges, teachers (TRS), school employees (SERS), state employees (PERS), public-safety employees (PSERS), LEOFF, State Patrol, volunteer firefighters, and the general exemption for retirement accounts in RCW 6.15.020. Jason Rantz put it cleanly: they didn’t just tax millionaires. They opened the pension statutes. That is accurate. Those funds are not small. The Washington State Investment Board’s defined-benefit plans held on the order of $190 billion by spring 2026. An older snapshot that matches the circulating graphic put the major plans at about $166 billion: PERS 2/3 alone around $73 billion, TRS 2/3 around $30 billion, LEOFF 2 around $24 billion, plus the closed Plan 1 systems and the rest. The graphic’s point is not that the state is seizing the corpus tomorrow. It is that the statutory wall that said “this money is not a tax base” is gone. Traditional IRA and 401(k) withdrawals already sit in federal AGI. They will sit in the Washington base. Qualified Roth distributions generally do not. Social Security is federally taxable in part and will follow that treatment. None of that required rewriting thirteen pension codes. The rewrites were insurance — so that when a high-income household’s pension, deferred-comp, capital gains, K-1, and spouse income are stacked, the old “exempt from any state tax” language cannot be used as a defense. The $1 million line can move. The bill ties the I-2111 carve-out to a $1 million household deduction. Nothing in Article VII, and nothing in the political history of this tax, suggests the floor is sacred once the collection system exists. The same session, different treatment In the same 2026 session, lawmakers narrowed — they did not eliminate — sales-and-use tax preferences for data centers. Replacement-server exemptions were ended. New-construction exemptions in qualifying facilities remained, and additional eastern-Washington data-center language moved in other bills. Server farms still have a statutory preference structure. Public pensions lost theirs. That contrast is why the graphic’s bottom row lands: one class of capital kept a break; another class of deferred wages lost a shield. Both decisions were made by the same majority in the same weeks. I-645 and the sticker on the ballot Initiative 645 is already certified for the November 3, 2026 ballot. A “yes” vote repeals the 9.9 percent tax before the first dollar is collected and restates a prohibition on taxes on individual income, on the receipt of individual income, and on taxes measured by individual income. The Attorney General’s required “public investment impact disclosure” on the ballot reads that the measure would decrease funding for K-12, higher education, and human services. That sentence is doing a lot of work. The tax has collected nothing. The Office of Financial Management’s fiscal note counts projected future revenue that would not arrive if the tax is repealed — on the order of $11 billion across fiscal years 2027–2031 — and treats the accompanying sales-tax and B&O relief that I-645 leaves in place as a cost. Opponents of the initiative call that a cuts-to-schools sticker. Supporters call it a scare line attached to money that does not yet exist. A separate fight is whether I-645’s “measured by income” language also reaches the capital-gains excise tax. Opponents commissioned a memo saying it likely does. Sponsors say it does not. That question will outlive Election Day if the measure passes. What “unconstitutional” means here Two things can be true at once. First: under Culliton and the text of Article VII, a 9.9 percent tax on income above a threshold looks like the exact thing the Court said the state may not do. The Legislature did not ask the people to change the Constitution. It asked the courts to re-label the tax. Second: the capital-gains decision shows this Supreme Court is willing to treat a tax on a subset of income as an excise if the statute is drafted that way. SB 6346 was drafted that way on purpose. “Receipt of Washington taxable income” is the phrase they chose. Until a final court speaks, the law is the law. Implementation spending continues. DOR is already publishing FAQs that say the tax takes effect in 2028. That is how a contested statute becomes a fact on the ground. The pension amendments are the tell. If this were only a tax on a handful of tech founders, there was no need to touch RCW 41.32.052 or RCW 6.15.020. Those sections were opened because retirement income is income, and once income is a tax base the old exemptions become obstacles. The $1 million threshold is the sales pitch. The thirteen statutes are the infrastructure. Washingtonians have voted on this question for almost a century. In November they vote on it again — not as a constitutional amendment, which is what the text of Article VII actually requires, but as a repeal of a statute that pretends the Constitution already allowed it. What actually pulls people over the line sooner The median household does not have to hit $1 million for the tax to spread. • Stacked income: pension + IRA/401(k) withdrawals + capital gains + a spouse + a K-1 from a pass-through. The tax starts from federal AGI. One good year in markets or a business sale does it. • Marriage penalty: one $1 million deduction per household, not per person. • A lower threshold later: once Title 82A exists, the floor is a statute, not a constitutional number. The I-2111 carve-out is written as “so long as the standard deduction is at least $1,000,000.” That sentence can be rewritten.

Go Hawks!

Iykyk. #12s

We are eternally grateful to the Allen family for their incredible leadership and impact on our franchise, the 12s, and our greater community for the past nearly 30 years.

The memories will last forever. Thank you to the Allen family for the moments on the field, the investments in our community, and the legacy that will continue to shape the Pacific Northwest for years to come.

Welcome to Seattle, @vkhosla and family! With the @Seahawks, you are inheriting the defending champs, the loudest building in football, and fans who never sit down. The #12s take care of their own, and starting now that includes your family. #GoHawks

@vkhosla Vinod, we Seahawks fans are excited to have you as new owner / steward. As you are so fond of saying about VCs: “The first rule is Do No Harm. 90% fail.” Similarly, we implore you the same: Do No Harm. You’ll be a huge success and fan favorite if you don’t screw it up.

This is one of the better written arguments against @GovBobFerguson income tax. Bravo @VietQNguyen "I understand the argument that Washington’s tax system is regressive, but the path to tax reform runs through the Constitution — not around it. Washington voters have been asked at least 10 times whether they want an income tax. They’ve said no every time. The response should not be to pass one anyway and block a public vote." seattletimes.com/opinion/im-…

Such a great explainer Hannah! @bkheywood @IsForAt

Pathetic. Bob Ferguson can’t even own what he is doing to Washington’s economic future with this ill conceived income tax without this ridiculous claim that “Donald Trump & Congress made me do it.” I never thought Jay Inslee could be topped for brazen political jackassary, but here we are.

My life’s work has been to maximize the size of the pie for the innovation economy: better, bigger outcomes for founders, company builders, and the entire region. For 26 years, I’ve strived to build a vibrant startup ecosystem here in Washington, and I’m very concerned that a state income tax would not only crush the innovation economy that Washington has come to take for granted but also fail to achieve its stated goals. Today, I published an op-ed in @GeekWire laying out my concerns in detail. First, we need to clear the air on the narrative being used. The term “millionaire’s tax” itself is inaccurate. Let’s be clear: this new tax is an income tax. No income tax in history has ever stopped at just high earners. The legislature is trying to convince you otherwise, but their own track record proves otherwise: they’ve raised gas taxes, payroll taxes, revenue (B&O) taxes, and capital gains taxes. In Olympia, it’s never enough! They are trying to claim that an income tax won’t broadly expand in a future “emergency,” but it is folly to trust them on something with such severe risks. My inspiration for expanding the pie is derived from my own direct life experiences. My mom never went to college, and my dad was the first in his family to attend college. They met in the U.S. Army, and both worked incredibly hard to provide an opportunity for our family, which paved the way for me to study and work hard. Twenty-six years ago, I took the greatest risk of my life to move our young family from Georgia to Seattle to join a fledgling investment firm backing founders right as the dot-com bubble burst! Our firm, Madrona, helped founders prioritize, cut costs, and survive a true economic crisis exacerbated by 9/11. Founder resilience produced amazing success stories that contributed back to Washington state in countless ways. Now, many of those entrepreneurs have left the state for other regions that are more supportive of their contributions. Everyone deserves an opportunity to realize their full potential in life and earn the benefits from their hard work and risk-taking. Most who succeed choose to be very generous with their time, talents, and resources in the communities where they live. If state political leaders try to paper over bad economic policy with yet more taxes, those taxpayers will simply leave for a different state, meaning the state still won’t get the additional tax revenues they seek, and the innovation economy will be much worse for it. Ultimately, this income tax would serve to divide the pie rather than expand it. It would drive innovators away from Washington and leave us significantly weaker — and poorer! Sadly, that is not a narrative but a reality the state will have to live with forever if they create an income tax today. geekwire.com/2026/opinion-th…

Must read for Washingtonians concerned about the state's future - A new letter from tech leaders lays out the damage a new 9.9% income tax would do to Washington state’s economy. wsj.com/opinion/a-tech-tax-r… via @WSJopinion

I guess the Seattle SuperSonics aren't coming back after all. Washington’s proposed millionaire tax is already spooking the NBA. It’s just one part of a tax stack that would hit founders and small businesses harder than anywhere in America. garryslist.org/posts/washing…

SEAHAWKS ARE THE 1 SEED IN THE NFC 🔥 The Seahawks beat the 49ers 13-4 to win the NFC West, claim the #1 seed in the NFC and secure a first round bye.

Chance meeting with my favorite football analyst @danorlovsky7 on a flight today. It appeared he was working hard the entire flight - 5+ hours! Mad respect for his work ethos - I can see why he’s best in the business!

“He wasn’t trying to be rich. He wasn’t trying to be famous. He wasn’t trying to be powerful. He was obsessed with the creative process and building something beautiful”

Every time I watch the #NBA finals, it’s hard to forget how we were robbed of our #sonics - it took me a good while to get back into basketball. The wound is still raw though.

#HuskyNation, here is the argument. RT it so the nation can hear it. #Penix4Heisman