Income tax

BE IT RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 1
STATE OF WASHINGTON, IN LEGISLATIVE SESSION ASSEMBLED:2
THAT, At the next general election to be held in this state the 3
secretary of state shall submit to the qualified voters of the state 4
for their approval and ratification, or rejection, an amendment to 5
Article VII of the Constitution of the state of Washington by adding 6
a new section to read as follows: 7
Article VII, section . . .. INCOME TAX. 8
(a) For the purpose of taxation, income is not property and the 9
legislature may, by law, impose a tax on income from whatever source 10
derived subject to the limitation of this section.11
(b) Any income tax imposed by the legislature must:12
(1) Not apply to persons with Washington taxable income at or 13
below $1,000,000 per year. The amount in this subsection (b)(1) must 14
be adjusted annually by the consumer price index as provided in 15
subsection (c) of this section; and 16
(2) Not have a maximum tax rate that exceeds 9.9 percent.17
(c) Each October, the income threshold in subsection (b)(1) of 18
this section must be adjusted by multiplying the current income 19
threshold by one plus the percentage by which the most current 20
consumer price index available on October 1st of the current year 21
exceeds the consumer price index for the prior 12-month period, and 22
H-3433.4
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 4213
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2026 Regular Session
By Representative Walen
Read first time 02/19/26. Referred to Committee on Finance.
p. 1 HJR 4213
rounding the result to the nearest $1,000. If an adjustment under 1
this subsection (c) would reduce the threshold amount, the threshold 2
amount must not be adjusted for the following year. The new threshold 3
takes effect for taxes due in the following calendar year.4
(d) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions 5
apply: 6
(1) "Consumer price index" means the consumer price index for all 7
urban consumers, all items, for the Seattle area as calculated by the 8
United States bureau of labor statistics or its successor agency.9
(2) "Seattle area" means the geographic area sample that includes 10
Seattle and surrounding areas. 11
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the secretary of state shall cause 12
notice of the foregoing constitutional amendment to be published at 13
least four times during the four weeks next preceding the election in 14
every legal newspaper in the state. 15
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p. 2 HJR 4213