By Treasure Mackley / For The Herald
The week my son started kindergarten I got a call that a spot had opened up for him at a local daycare. Unfortuntately, it was four years too late.
Like many parents, we put our name on a dozen or more waitlists as soon as my son was born, hoping for an opening. Thankfully, we found a solution closer to home when I was ready to go back to work, but the lack of quality affordable child care options close to home or work means many families aren’t as lucky.
Our state lawmakers recognized the child care crisis, made a plan to fix it, and found a way to pay for it. They passed a capital gains tax, a modest 7 percent tax on the windfall from stock sales of with more than $250,000 in profit. If you haven’t heard of this tax, it’s likely because you will never pay it.
Last year it applied to less than 1 percent of the wealthiest people in the state. Only 230 people in Snohomish County paid the capital gains tax in 2023.
In its first year, the capital gains tax raised nearly $900 million for child care, early learning and public school funding and construction. The revenue represents a staggering amount of wealth that until recently was untapped, leaving the richest people off the hook for paying what they truly owe in taxes. Meanwhile, the rest of us were paying more than our share for services that we all share, including transportation, education, health care, justice and social programs.
The rules were rigged against the middle class; the capital gains tax was a step to fix our upside-down tax code and help low- and middle-income earners feel less pressure.
It’s harder than ever for families to afford the basics of housing, groceries, child care and the myriad of other bills that pop up. It means the economic disparity in our communities is growing even wider. The capital gains tax is one way to level the playing field. It’s a small amount for the very wealthy to pay. It has no noticeable impact on them, but proceeds from the tax means the world to the rest of us: we can go to work knowing our kids are safe, engaged and growing and their future is a little more secure.
But — cue the sad trombone — a hedge fund manager from California didn’t like the capital gains tax so he filed a measure to repeal it. This November, Initiative 2109 will appear on the ballot.
If passed, I-2109 will roll back important progress that made our tax code more just and fair. It will also gut $2.2 billion from child care and education over five years. The relief that new parents might finally feel about finding an affordable spot in an in-home child care down the street? Gone. The hope that a single mom held onto to continue her own education, if only she could find a safe place for her kiddo while she was in class? Dashed.
I-2109 would have devastating consequences not just for families, but for businesses that need employees to have reliable child care in order to come to work. A recent analysis by the Washington Budget & Policy Center predicts the state would lose more than 10,000 jobs and $986 million in GDP each year if the capital gains tax is repealed. It’s not just direct service education jobs that would be lost but also the ripple effect across our local economy.
I-2109 asks voters a simple question: Do we value caring for kids, making sure they’re ready for school, and giving them a quality education or do we give the wealthiest people in our state another tax break? As a parent and advocate for tax fairness, there’s only one answer. I hope you’ll join me in telling millionaires and billionaires to finally pay what they truly owe. Vote no on Initiative 2109.
Treasure Mackley is the executive director for Invest in Washington Now, an organization with more 80,000 supporters across Washington state united for a more equitable tax code. She lives in Edmonds.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
