OLYMPIA – Flanked by workers, union leaders, professors, housing advocates, and progressive tax coalitions, Rep. Shaun Scott (D–Seattle) introduced the Well Washington Fund yesterday, a bold payroll excise tax designed to shield Washington from the deep federal funding cuts imposed by H.R. 1 – the tax-and-spending package signed by Donald Trump that hands billionaires permanent tax breaks while forcing states into austerity.
“H.R. 1 is a billionaire giveaway with a bill that lands in the laps of Washington’s working families,” said Scott on the steps of the Legislative Building. “It steals from our classrooms, our hospitals, and our housing programs to subsidize champagne dreams for the ultra-rich. Washington is done footing the tab.”
A Clear Choice: Austerity for Working People or Accountability for the Ultra-Rich
H.R. 1 is projected to create multi-billion-dollar holes in state budgets nationwide. For Washington, those cuts would endanger:
- Public schools and higher education
- Medicaid and behavioral health services
- Childcare and early learning
- Housing assistance and homelessness response
- Transit, infrastructure, and essential state services
“Washington is one of the wealthiest states in the wealthiest nation in human history,” Scott said. “The idea that we ‘can’t afford’ childcare, transit, or housing is absurd. We can afford all of it – when the corporations and ultra-wealthy who have benefited the most contribute what they owe.”
Fixing Washington’s Regressive Tax Code
Washington consistently ranks as one of the most regressive tax systems in the country, where low-income families pay a far larger share of their income in taxes than millionaires. H.R. 1 threatens to make that inequity permanent.
Union leaders at the press conference echoed the urgency. “Working families are drowning while the wealthiest can’t spare a single drop of their champagne,” said Mike Yestramski, President of the Washington Federation of State Employees. “Well, guess what? That ends with us.”
What the Well Washington Fund Does
Scott’s legislation is modeled on Seattle’s successful JumpStart payroll tax and would raise over $2 billion annually to stabilize healthcare (especially Medicaid), education, and human service programs facing federal cuts.
The proposal:
- Targets large corporations with high concentrations of employees earning above $125,000/year.
- Applies a 5% tax only on the portion of payroll expenses that exceed that salary threshold.
- Exempts small businesses, low-wage workers, and employers already paying Seattle’s local JumpStart tax.
- Creates the Well Washington Fund, preventing cuts and protecting statewide budgets from federal austerity.
- Ensures revenue cannot be reclaimed from worker wages.
“This bill protects the people who make our economy run – not the corporations extracting record profits from it,” Scott said. “If an employer’s business model only works when executives make millions and everyone else pays for it – that’s not a business model, that’s exploitation.”
Responding to Corporate Threats and Fear-Mongering
Some business groups have already raised concerns – including suggestions that corporations might relocate jobs.
Scott rejected those arguments directly.
“Corporate threats of job relocation are as old as capitalism itself,” Scott said. “We’ve seen it with Boeing, which demanded massive corporate welfare and cut jobs anyway. And we’ve seen Amazon and Microsoft cut thousands of jobs long before this bill – not because of taxes, but because of automation and AI. Working people shouldn’t be held hostage to scare tactics.”
A Vision for a Bolder Washington
Scott emphasized that the Well Washington Fund is part of a broader effort to make the state’s tax code more fair, including closing multinational loopholes, passing the capital gains tax on millionaires, and expanding the Working Families Tax Credit.
He also referenced two additional revenue proposals he’s advancing this session:
- The Wildfire Alleviation Support Act (HB 2089) – raising $40M annually by closing a big-bank loophole.
- County Corporate Tax Authority – allowing counties to raise B&O taxes for the first time in state history.
“H.R. 1 says public wealth belongs in private hands. I reject that,” Scott said. “We can choose austerity, or we can choose solidarity. And I’m choosing solidarity.”
Scott concluded with a message to Washingtonians across the state:
“Call your legislators. Call your members of Congress. Demand a tax code that reflects our values, not billionaire profits. A handful of billionaires should not decide the fate of our state – working people should. Together, we can build a Washington where our budget works for all of us.”