Northwest Digest

Aggregating news across the Northwest. #OpenGov Have a news link we should share? DM us! RTs not endorsements.

[Future 42 @future42org]

"This was not meant to be a 'millionaires tax'. This was meant to overturn a century old Supreme Court ruling."

The fallout from the Attorney General's released emails expands as the documents show; The income tax is designed specifically to open the door to taxing everyone.

BONUS: Attorney General Nick Brown's response is to ignore the content of the emails and attack journalists reporting on them.

@AlejandraG_TV | @fox13seattle
'Emails show WA's ‘millionaires tax’ aims to overturn historic ruling'
Article: https://t.co/Ks4s87qdhs

[Jesse Proudman @jesseproudman]

@GovBobFerguson is hiring 300 people for a "millionaires-only" tax. 1 bureaucrat for every 67 taxpayers.

That's not a team for 20,000 people, that's foundational infrastructure for 8 million.

The IRS covers 150M+ filers with ~80K employees (1:1,875 ratio). Washington's building 300 staff for 20K filers (1:67). That's 28x more bureaucratic density per taxpayer than the IRS.

[Brandi Kruse @BrandiKruse]

Democratic leaders in Washington state just flat out admitted they don't actually care how many citizens oppose their income tax proposal. In other words: Shut up and obey, serfs.

[Steve Gordon @stevemgordon67]

The Dem overlords in WA from the AGO to Auditor to Caucus Leaders have been clear they have NO intention of investigating the widespread concerns of fraud & abuse. We need help.
@HHSGov @usedgov @EDSecMcMahon @AAGDhillon @HUDgov @SecretaryTurner

[Future 42 @future42org]

As Governor Ferguson and Olympia Democrats prepare to release their Income Tax onto Washingtonians;

Remember that Washington's financial issues are caused by OVERSPENDING, not a lack of tax revenue.

[Todd Myers 🐟🌲🐝 @WAPolicyGreen]

The legislature is hearing HB 2100 which would tax Washington workers who make more than $125,000 in salary & benefits

That sounds like a lot, but here are the number of school district employees who make at least that amount

Seattle: 1,721
Bellevue: 661
Spokane: 525

#waleg

[Charlie Harger, KIRO Newsradio @KIROCharlie]

Scoop from Washington State Standard's Jerry Cornfield on Seattle's Morning News: WA income tax draft targets visiting athletes with a "jock tax."
A player making $10 million could owe about $58,000 just for one game in Seattle. Think a Rams guy playing at Lumen Field. Seahawks players pay on every home game too. It could even extend to college NIL earners and touring performers.
Voters banned income taxes in 2024. Long road ahead.
Thoughts?
Full @KIRONewsradio report: https://t.co/xHM46Gf0zO
#SeattleSeahawks #JockTax #WALeg

[Travis Couture @TravisSCouture]

No one in state government can answer this precise problem/question…

The following is a scenario of a 5 month period you can easily find on state public records multiple times over:

- A daycare that is licensed for 8 slots for kids
- Assume the daycare is fully enrolled at 8 kids for 5 months (often slots are not full, making this worse, but let’s give them max benefit of the doubt)
- Assume all 8 kids are infants at the highest possible subsidy rate (~$2,300 per child per month), which is ~$18,400 per month. Let’s round up to $20,000 per month for absolutely no reason other than generosity. (Infant only daycare is an extremely unlikely scenario but technically possible)
- In a 5 month period, that’s $100,000 in max subsidies if you are very generous in your assumptions.

Now, how is it even remotely possible when that same daycare receives 4-5x the highest possible subsidy amount in that 5 month period? Sometimes receiving $400-500k in 5 months, when they should max out at $100K! This has been found MULTIPLE times over at various home based daycares in WA.

Are we to believe that a home based daycare with a max potential of less than ten subsidized children is a MILLION DOLLAR per year business?! I own a business with 6 employees and my business makes less than these daycares?? That makes literally no logical sense. Back in the day my mom ran a daycare in Spokane, and if you could make this kind of money she’d still be doing it!

Forget if the daycare actually has kids or not, forget if it’s run by a particular group of people, forget the house, forget the neighborhood… that’s all noise compared to the number one smoking gun which is that the math simply doesn’t math… not even close.

State agencies and Democrat politicians spend more time dazzling us with bullshit, threatening journalists, and making false claims about the ‘process’, and zero time explaining the problem I just described above. Something is very wrong and it’s incredible to watch these elected officials and agency heads dip, duck, dive, dodge and… dodge their way around this very obvious problem.

WA is one of the most expensive states for child care in the nation, but I think if we all knew you could gross a fat $1,000,000 per year doing it, we’d all be daycare owners.

You know who loses in all of this? The honest and good daycares who get paid absolute dirt and have 400 pages of regulations to follow thanks to Democrats. But also families lose, the tax payers lose, and the kids lose.

You work hard just to barely survive to the next paycheck while paying some of the highest taxes in state history, just to learn that money is essentially being allowed to be stolen while the state stands by, and no one in positions of power is willing to take it seriously. All of this contributing to a multi-billion dollar deficit. That is a sad indictment of where we are at politically in this state, and people have the right to be upset about it and demand answers.

The chaos and constant dumpster fires in WA State government is infuriating.

[Anthony Mixer @AnthonyMixerWA]

So let me get this straight…

Washingtonians are being price gouged at the gas pump by paying an additional 56.7 cents thanks to the cap & tax CCA…

…to have the state spend $1.5 billion raised from said tax on climate projects that has reduced carbon emissions by…0.0008%?!

This is despicable! Talk about highway robbery…
#waleg

[Brandi Kruse @BrandiKruse]

For weeks, Washington state Democrats lashed out at reporters for looking into childcare fraud. Now, the elected auditor admits a state agency in charge of paying providers did not comply with @HHSGov requirements, making HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS "impossible" to audit.

[KOMO News @komonews]

Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown was questioned Tuesday about an audit of the Department of Children, Youth, and Families that found four years of records missing and $2 million of overpayments to day care providers.

[Conservative Ladies of America - WA State @CLofWashington]

🚨Washington SB 5068 will allow ANY non-citizen in the US who is legally working here (refugee/asylee status, Visa holders, etc) to be law enforcement officers.

A non-citizen would be upholding the law and the constitution for US citizens!!!

This bill is a carry-over from the 2025 session and is on the Senate Floor Calendar for a vote on January 21. Last session EVERY senator (D & R alike) voted to PASS SB 5068. The Republicans get a do-over...a DO-BETTER...vote NO!!!

TAKE ACTION NOW
Send a message to your legislators: https://t.co/hk9X4jjevq

[Future 42 @future42org]

A University of Washington Researcher named Mara Maughan openly wished murder upon people she disagreed with.

But rather than immediately suspend her, UW is "reviewing the specifics of this situation"...

Sure, just like UW is still reviewing charges against rioters that destroyed a $1 Million in equipment last year 🙄

@JasonSlossTV | @KIRO7Seattle

[Future 42 @future42org]

WA State Auditor to KOMO News:
"[DCYF] are probably the most risky of all the departments in state government"

✔️DCYF has blocked auditor access to data for 4 years.
✔️Auditor is investigating $416 MILLION in unaccounted money from 2024 alone, that went to daycares.
✔️$560 Million in "questionable program costs."
✔️$12 Million in suspected "improper payments".
✔️State auditor chided DCYF for failing to comply with federal law around documentation, "making it impossible to properly audit child care providers."
✔️Audit currently happening right now, with major improvements to how they are looking at DCYF's programs.

On top of everything; Olympia Democrats recently melted down when questioned by KOMO and The Center Square Washington about possible fraud.

And finally, DCYF Secretary Tana Senn continues to avoid answering questions from the press.

@MichelleKOMO | @komonews
Article: https://t.co/oeYqBz7AJW

[Katie Daviscourt 📸 @KatieDaviscourt]

ICE surges the Seattle metro, captures a criminal illegal alien who attempted to escape on foot.

This arrest occurred in Everett, a sanctuary city flooded with illegal aliens involved in the illicit narcotics trade.

[Todd Myers 🐟🌲🐝 @WAPolicyGreen]

Soon after the report from @EcologyWA revealed that revenue from the state's CO2 tax is being wasted, legislators will hear a bill (HB 2251) that eliminates the requirement to "evaluate the impacts" of state-funded climate projects.

Crazy.

That's not all... 1/2 #waleg

[Ari Hoffman @thehoffather]

WA Auditor: Missing data made it 'impossible' to track where child care federal funds went

"We have to get that information from the agency… and we haven’t been able to get that information for the last four years.”

https://t.co/T8MMFZRIXZ

[Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes]

Democrat Washington State House Speaker Laurie Jinkins is asked about the state covering up fraud by deleting records and removing child care center information from the state’s website

She explodes. Innocent people don’t act like this

The first thing she does is blame Trump saying it’s just the federal government making baseless allegations

But they literally did delete records and remove daycares from the state’s website…. That’s why she’s being asked about it

[Jason Rantz on Seattle Red @jasonrantz]

Trump sets Feb. 1 cutoff for sanctuary funding in Washington state https://t.co/n1seKsTxcX

[Travis Couture @TravisSCouture]

@elonmusk Evergreen State College in WA employs 4 administrators for every 1 student! Admin in WA State colleges grew 52% while enrollment shrank -11%