When Voters Know the Truth, They Reject Olympia’s Income Tax

A new poll should worry the campaign defending Washington’s income tax.

DHM Research surveyed 800 Washington voters this September and tested something simple: does the exact wording voters see on their ballot change how they vote? The answer is yes, dramatically.

When voters were shown the official ballot language, including a one-sentence fiscal disclosure warning provided by the Washington Attorney General’s Office that incorrectly claims repeal would cut funding for schools and other programs, 57% said they’d vote to keep the tax. However, when researchers removed that fiscal disclosure and showed voters everything else, that lead collapses to just 44%.

That sentence didn’t write itself, this was intentional. The disclosure statement voters will see on their actual ballots was shaped, in part, by the very same interests funding the campaign to defeat I-645. According to reporting from The Center Square, Pacifica Law Group, the firm representing the campaign opposing I-645, worked with the Washington Attorney General’s Office, urging it to emphasize the fiscal impact of repeal in the ballot title and summary.

There’s only one problem: the funding disclosure isn’t accurate. Washington’s income tax doesn’t take effect until 2028 and won’t generate a single dollar of revenue until 2029. As Washington Policy Center’s Ryan Frost has said, “you can’t cut funds you don’t have.”

“This poll proves exactly what we’ve said all along,” said I-645 Campaign Spokesperson Jaime Herrera Beutler. “Once voters know the truth, they reject this tax by a much wider margin. The only reason this race looks close at all is because Olympia and the interests defending this tax helped write a misleading statement into the ballot language itself.”

Recent polling from Cygnal reinforces DHM’s findings. 67% of Washington voters oppose a state income tax and 57% believe an income tax is unconstitutional and will eventually expand to cover them.

Voters deserve ballot language that tells them the truth, not language shaped behind the scenes by the side that benefits from its passage. When they see that this is an income tax, they reject it. That’s exactly why we’re fighting to make sure they know that this is an income tax and it is coming for everyone.