Eli Taylor Goss and Rian Watt: In this Washington, lawmakers must act to protect people’s economic well-being

Like many people here in Washington state, we have watched in alarm, horror and outrage as the new federal administration has taken a chainsaw to critical public programs and thrown millions of lives into disarray – all supposedly in the name of “efficiency and cost-savings.” The decisions made the past few weeks will come at a terrible cost to us all: in researchers losing jobs or grant funding before developing life-saving drugs; in everyday people facing more exorbitant grocery prices due to tariffs; in loss of access to gender-affirming care and surgeries to people whose lives depend on them.

These calamities from the other Washington would be difficult enough if they were isolated. But they aren’t. This Washington faces a $12 billion revenue shortfall. And we are at risk of additional devastating budget cuts right here at home.

In times like these, we must work together to protect the public good and fully fund programs and services that are essential for communities. That is why our statewide nonprofit organizations that work to advance people’s economic security – the Washington State Budget and Policy Center and the Economic Opportunity Institute – are calling on state lawmakers to protect the well-being of people from Eastern to Western Washington by funding the things that keep our communities strong, like schools (and their essential DEI programs for students and teachers), health care and food security programs. Lawmakers can do this by ensuring that the richest people and corporations pay what they owe in state taxes.

We know exactly what happens when the essential programs currently on the chopping block – Medicaid, behavioral health services, public health, long-term care, and early learning – are cut. Families in Spokane that are already struggling will face even greater difficulties meeting their basic needs. Costs for housing, child care and health care are all increasingly outpacing wages. Wealth inequality in our region will soar as the richest among us – most of whom live in the wealthiest enclaves of Seattle – line their pockets while skipping out on the bill for the society we all live in.

How many times must we learn that we cannot cut our way to economic prosperity? Our state has yet to rebound from the budget cuts during the Great Recession of the late 2000s.

While there are some savings that can come from making cuts to out-of-date programs, the across-the-board cuts that some in Olympia are advocating for aren’t necessary. There are revenue solutions that only tax the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations – the ones that have received a special deal on state taxes for decades and who will most benefit from federal tax cuts on the horizon.

This legislative session, state lawmakers need to enact those revenue solutions by taxing extreme Wall Street wealth, closing tax loopholes for employers of high earners, and making equitable reforms to the Business & Occupation tax. Washingtonians have made it clear in polls and in the November elections, when they upheld the capital gains tax on the ultrawealthy, that they support such commonsense taxes.

We all want a vibrant Washington where small-business owners, teachers and restaurant workers can thrive, not just survive. That will take new progressive revenue – not balancing the budget on the backs of working people.

Washington has a history of showing other states how to get things done. We led in protecting workers with Paid Family & Medical Leave and raising the minimum wage. We fought for schools, families and our environment by voting to uphold the capital gains tax, fund long-term care and maintain the fee on big polluters.

Now we all need to call on lawmakers to enact equitable revenue to address our current budget challenges and help safeguard us against the harm coming out of the other Washington. We can chart a better path forward by requiring that those receiving special tax benefits contribute their share. With that revenue, we can help families afford essential needs like child care, housing, and health care. We can also continue building the Washington we want, where immigrants and undocumented people remain critical to our cultural and social fabric, workers are protected, and everyone can live lives of safety, opportunity and dignity.

Eli Taylor Goss is the executive director of the Washington State Budget and Policy Center, a research and policy organization that works to advance economic justice. Rian Watt is the executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute, a nonpartisan think tank working to make Washington a national model of Economic Opportunity. Both are in Seattle.