Washington State Rep and GOP Chair Jim Walsh (R-Aberdeen) is blasting Senate Bill 6346, the so called “Millionaire’s tax,” as a backdoor attempt to establish a state income tax, arguing it conflicts with both recent voter-approved policy and the Washington State Constitution.
In a statement responding to SB 6346, Walsh said the proposal is the latest effort by “leftists in Olympia” to undermine the will of voters — pointing to I-2111, a “no state income tax” initiative to the Legislature that passed with bipartisan support two years ago.
“This state income tax will fall on everyone. It will not fall on millionaires — it will fall on everyone.”
Rep Jim Walsh discusses the very sleazy process that Democrats are engaged in to pass a state income tax pic.twitter.com/KMUEnINaPR
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) February 4, 2026
“As the author of I-2111… I’m disappointed but not surprised that leftists in Olympia are trying to gut another People’s Initiative,” Walsh said. “The People of Washington have spoken repeatedly — including in their support of I-2111— that they do not want any type of state income tax. The current governor and his comrades in the state legislature are ignoring the People’s voice.”
Walsh: The Constitution requires “uniform” taxation
Walsh’s central legal argument is that the state constitution would not allow the tax structure the Democrats are proposing. He cited Article VII, Section 1 of the Washington State Constitution, which requires taxes to be “uniform,” contending that any income tax must be flat and applied evenly.
“This state income tax scheme… is not just illegal. It’s unconstitutional,” Walsh said in the statement. “Article VII, Section 1… says any state income tax must be ‘uniform.’ That means flat and applied evenly to all people. The current governor’s scheme applies only to certain Washington families. So, it fails the Article VII test.”
Walsh also claimed Democrats are counting on the Washington Supreme Court to intervene in a way that ultimately expands the policy beyond the bill’s current design.
“The current governor is counting on the Washington State Supreme Court to fabricate some specious rationalization to support his shady scheme, and to extend the scheme to all Washington households,” he said. “Good judges don’t want to be part of that venality.”
He called SB 6346 “a poorly conceived and poorly drafted mess,” adding: “It’s designed to extend to ALL Washington families… It’s built on lies. Vote NO on SB 6346!”
“I’m gonna call it sleazy.”
Walsh expanded on those criticisms during a wide-ranging interview on The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, where he and host Ari Hoffman repeatedly framed SB 6346 as an attempt to rebrand an income tax in more palatable terms.
“The democrats have unveiled their income tax, and I’m gonna keep saying this over and over again,” Hoffman said at the outset. “Anybody who calls [it] a millionaire’s tax wants it. Anybody who calls it an income tax understands it.”
Walsh responded by calling the proposal a “monster” and describing what he said was political theater around the bill’s release.
“We saw this monster finally unveiled,” Walsh said, alleging the governor “engaged in some performative politics where he pretended to have problems with the bill he drafted… which creates a state income tax.”
He went on to characterize the policy as a “state income tax” and argued it runs against the constitution, statutory law, and “the best traditions” of Washington.
During the exchange, Wlash referenced being “reprimanded earlier today” for using the term “sleazy” to describe the rollout of the proposal. Hoffman leaned into the moment.
“Well, hang on a second… I know you’re not calling it sleazy. I’m gonna call it sleazy,” Hoffman said. “This is a very, very sleazy process that the governor is engaged in.”
Hoffman later pressed Walsh on who asked him to remove the word from his public messaging. Walsh said his “first official legislative response” included “sleazy,” and he “was asked to remove that from [his] official statement.”
Timeline and tactics: Emergency clause, long runway
In the interview, Hoffman and Walsh also questioned what they described as strategic choices in the bill — including an emergency clause and a delayed ramp-up timeline. Hoffman asked whether a far-off effective date was intended to shield elected officials from political blowback.
Walsh suggested the governor is trying to “kick the can” while still locking the policy into law, and he criticized the combination of a delayed implementation with emergency language.
“If you can wait till twenty twenty nine for the bad idea to take effect, you don’t need to declare an emergency,” Walsh said, calling the approach “intellectually dishonest.”
Walsh also repeated his belief that the tax would not stay limited to higher-income earners, arguing the courts could require uniformity — and that Democrats might then blame the judiciary for expanding it.
“This state income tax will fall on everyone,” Walsh said. “It will not fall on millionaires… he’s counting… [on] the state supreme court… [to say] you can’t put this only on somebody… you’ve got to put it on everybody.”
Cost of living: “Cut taxes, don’t add one”
Beyond constitutional arguments, Walsh and Hoffman framed the debate as a kitchen-table issue, urging lawmakers to focus on cost-of-living pressures rather than new revenue streams.
“If you wanna help working families, stop taxing them all together,” Hoffman said, urging reductions to the state’s carbon-related costs and property taxes.
Walsh echoed that message: “The cost of living is too high in washington. Creating a new tax doesn’t solve that.”
How to weigh in
Near the end of the interview, Hoffman encouraged listeners to contact legislators about SB 6346 and referenced the state’s legislative hotline: 1-800-562-6000, urging callers to register opposition. In a final flourish, Hoffman told listeners they could use Walsh’s preferred descriptor when they call, urging them to say no to the “sleazy” bill.
As Walsh put it in his formal statement: “Vote NO on SB 6346!”
