When the will of the people means nothing
Published 1:30 am Saturday, May 2, 2026
David Adams | GOP of Island County
In 1933, the Washington State Supreme Court struck down a proposed graduated income tax. The court ruled it unconstitutional because it violated the uniformity requirement, meaning all taxes must be uniform on the same class of property and levied for public purposes only.
Six subsequent court decisions consistently upheld this interpretation, making it clear that a general income tax cannot be imposed without amending the state constitution.
Today, almost one hundred years later, special-interest Democrats in Olympia said they do not care what the state constitution says and passed a law establishing an income tax. This action ignored the will of the people and forces the Washington State Supreme Court to decide this issue again for the seventh time in our history.
When they passed the law, Democrats claimed Washington State was in a serious financial shortfall that would cripple vital services……. then did very little to cut spending, prioritize the budget, or to uncover and eliminate waste and fraud. They said this situation was creating an emergency and needed action now. Yet, the new tax does not produce any new revenue until 2029…… more than two and one-half years after the law was passed.
What makes this sham even worse is that our Attorney General, who is suppose to be impartial in these matters, colluded with the Governor’s Office and the Legislature in writing this law. And, they specifically did this to force the court to reverse the 100-year-old law without a vote of the people.
But why do this? Because these special-interest Democrats are running out of your money and need a way to get more to feed their feel-good social programs.
How many millions of dollars have been spent on programs to help the homeless, but thousands still live on the streets? How many millions of dollars have been spent on child welfare programs, but thousands of children are still underserved and at risk? How many millions of dollars have been spent on climate change programs with no results, nothing to measure, and no idea where the money was spent? And, as we are now finding out, there has been little or no financial oversight of all these programs.
As British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money!” We are at that point now! Certainly, we have run out of patience with this costly foolishness. Hopefully, the Washington State Supreme Court will – for the eighth time – rule on behalf of the people and not the special interests in Olympia.
David Adams is Chairman for GOP of Island County, an Independent Political Action Committee.
