Saturday’s town hall (Image: CHS)

By Kali Herbst Minino, UW News Lab

“Tax the rich” might seem like something you see scrawled in Cal Anderson graffiti or on a Pike/Pine hipster’s ironic t-shirt. Against a backdrop of now fully uncertain federal support, the slogan a part of core 2025-era political debate in Washington and its largest city. This past weekend, it was the center of the discussion on First Hill.

People gathered at 43rd District Rep. Shaun Scott’s town hall Saturday at Seattle First Baptist Church to hear panelists from Working Washington and Seattle Democratic Socialists of America talk about turning the “tax the rich” slogan into real world legislation.

Advocacy group Balance Our Tax Code took videos of personal testimonies about the benefits of progressive policies and someone handed out “Tax the Rich” buttons.

The town hall came as Gov. Bob Ferguson’s office asked that state agencies request funding only for “critical and emergent costs.”

The new legislative session will begin in January.

The last state budget included cuts in higher education, behavioral health and health care. It also supported new spending in special education and $100 million in grants for hiring local law enforcement. Scott was critical of that decision during the event.

“We saw wildfire preparedness defunded, we saw reproductive health care defunded, we saw child care and human services defunded in the most recent legislative session. We have to replace that funding. I believe that those are the values of the people of the 43rd LD and certainly Capitol Hill,” Scott said.

One way Scott thinks the state can get some of that funding back is by changing the definition of a “community bank” in Washington’s tax code. They’re currently defined in fewer than 10 states and can deduct interest on residential property loans if they meet that definition. Digital and internet-only banks can claim the deduction because they have no physical locations, Scott said.

“[Digital and internet-only banks] had operated in no states, and were therefore able to make use of a tax benefit that was supposed to go towards community banks,” Scott said during the event.

In May, Ferguson vetoed a bill to repeal the deduction entirely to encourage community banks to finance home loans and affordable housing projects.

Scott would also like to see a state-level version of Seattle’s payroll tax laws. Seattle taxes businesses with payrolls over $8.8 million or employees earning at least $189,000.

“That’s something that we can absolutely advance, and that would create $2 billion worth of revenue,” Scott said. “That’s money that can go towards expanding child care to money that can go towards funding climate projects, funding affordable housing, funding higher education.”

Scott also represents parts of downtown, Eastlake, Madison Valley and Madison Park, portions of the University District and Montlake. He’ll be up for reelection in the August 2026 primary.

During the last legislative session, Scott said he was proud to write and advance House Bill 1858, which eliminated an exemption from fees on previously recorded deeds of trust.

Scott sponsored multiple progressive tax bills that never made it through committee. His proposals included expanding eligibility for the working families’ tax credit to everyone age 18 or higher, allowing counties to add excise taxes to real estate to build affordable housing and eliminating the investment income business and occupation tax deduction for corporations, which lets corporations deduct investment income unrelated to their primary business activities.

His bills weren’t the only ones that didn’t make it through the legislative process. Scott’s priorities will be accompanied by a push for more worker protections. Seattle has had a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights since 2019, and it has provided domestic workers with minimum wage protections, breaks, time off work and right to keep any of their possessions, regardless of immigration status. A state-level law ran out of time during the legislative session, and got stuck in the Senate committee.

Hannah Sabio-Howell, who participated in the panel as communications director at Working Washington, said her organization will be championing the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights this legislative session, even though it’s not explicitly focused on taxing the rich.

“It doesn’t facially have anything to do with raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy. What it does do is ensure that workers, tens of thousands of workers in this essential industry, can finally count on fair pay, safe and dignified workplaces, and the right to rest. And that’s inherently connected to this broader conversation we’ll be having at the town hall, which is about how we make our economic system more fair,” Sabio-Howell said.

Through the event, multiple panelists, including Scott, pointed to the high support for policies that would tax wealthier residents in Washington.

In 2025, Washington added a capital gains tax that makes the first $1 million in taxable Washington capital gains subject to tax at a rate of 7%. Any amount exceeding $1 million is subject to the 7% tax, plus an additional 2.9%. Around 3,000 filers were hit with the new tax last year, the state says.

The state’s Democratic leaders have so far said no to adding a wealth tax to try to cover spending needs and balance the budget. One proposal would levy a tax of $8 on every $1,000 of assessed value of financial assets. There would be exemptions for retirement accounts and education savings accounts. The State Department of Revenue estimates more than 4,000 would qualify for the tax, generating nearly $2 billion a year.

“I know through the course of the discussion that we have today, I don’t think of us are gonna be leaving here feeling very lonely about how popular tax the rich is as a general policy proposal,” Scott said.

The question will be can Scott and other progressives in the legislature turn that support into approved legislation in time.

The Journalism and Public Interest Communication News Lab at the University of Washington gives advanced journalism students an opportunity to build a dynamic clip portfolio by reporting for any of 70 client news outlets in the greater Seattle area. CHS is proud to work with young journalists and feature their work.

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