Washington's 9.9% millionaires tax must survive a Nov. 3 repeal vote and an open lawsuit
Washington's 9.9% tax on household income above $1 million, set to start in 2028 for about 30,000 taxpayers, faces a Nov. 3 repeal vote and a pending lawsuit. Advisers weighing domicile have a rate and a start date but no ruling on whether it survives.
The Investor · Invest desk
Key figures: a household with $1.5 million of income would owe $49,500 a year, and one with $5 million of income would owe $396,000 a year, if 9.9% applies to every dollar above $1 million (illustrative incomes). The law reaches roughly 30,000 taxpayers.
| Figure | Value | Note | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owed on $1.5 million of household income, illustrative | 49,500 dollars a year | 14 | |
| Owed on $5 million of household income | 396,000 dollars a year | Illustrative income | 15 |
| Taxpayers reached (roughly) | 30,000 taxpayers | 2 |
What happened
- Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the law in March, making it Washington's first income tax in more than 90 years.
- Initiative 645 would repeal the tax and explicitly ban income taxes in the state.
- The state Supreme Court split 4-4 on a ballot statement saying repeal would bring cuts to education and health care. The tie leaves that statement on the ballot.
- Jeff Bezos sold his Hunts Point mansion for $63 million in spring 2025, the most expensive home sale on record in the state.
Why it matters
- What it limits constraint Nov. 3 settles the question only if I-645 passes; if it fails, the lawsuit is still pending and the tax stays scheduled to begin in 2028.
- Who's exposed exposure The levy reaches realized household income above $1 million, so a net worth figure such as Bezos's $365 billion would not by itself produce a bill.
- What doesn't add up contradiction Fortune frames the sale as getting out ahead of the tax and notes speculation about the capital gains tax, yet Bezos moved to Miami in late 2023, before this law existed, so his exit says little about how anyone will respond to it.
Per Fortune, the levy is 9.9% of household income above $1 million [1]. If it applies to every dollar over the line, a household with $1.5 million of income owes $49,500 a year [14] and one with $5 million owes $396,000 [15]: roughly 3.3 times the income, 8 times the tax [16].
The new levy sits on top of a capital gains tax that the state's high court upheld in 2023 and that now runs as high as 9.9% [7]. The court has therefore already let that tax stand. It is a data point for the branch where the lawsuit fails, with the caveat that it is a different tax and a different case.
The one departure in Fortune's account does not test the new law. Bezos bought the Hunts Point house in 2019 for $37.5 million and sold it for about $25.5 million more [9]. His own explanation for leaving Seattle was family: he posted, "My parents have always been my biggest supporters," and added that Blue Origin is increasingly shifting operations to Cape Canaveral [11]. TwinFocus manages more than $7 billion for ultrahigh-net-worth families, and its managing partner and general counsel, John Pantekidis, said of Florida in an earlier Fortune interview that it is "very cost effective for folks like Jeff to live down there. It's ideal, it's nirvana." [13]
In our view the sensible posture before the count is patience. The tax begins in 2028 and the first payments are not due until April 2029 [3], so a household that holds off until Nov. 3 gives up none of the 9.9% it would otherwise have saved. The counter-case sits at the top of the range: for a household at $5 million, $396,000 a year [15] recurs for as long as the tax stands, while a move is paid for once, so the high end has reason to act before the lawsuit resolves.
The record Fortune assembles contains a single departure, and it predates the law [17]. Advisers moving clients ahead of the vote would show the 9.9% priced as the base case, and our expectation of patience would be wrong.
What to watch
- The Nov. 3 result on Initiative 645, the first of the two events that can remove the tax.
- Any hearing date or ruling in the constitutional lawsuit before the tax begins in 2028.
Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence58
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence55
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
A law adds a 9.9% levy on household income above $1 million in Washington state.
- [2]
Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the law in March; it reaches roughly 30,000 taxpayers and is Washington's first income tax in more than 90 years.
- [3]
The tax is set to begin in 2028, with the first payments due in April 2029.
- [4]
Initiative 645, on the Nov. 3 ballot, would repeal the tax and explicitly ban income taxes in the state.
- [5]
A separate lawsuit arguing the tax is unconstitutional is still pending.
- [6]
The state Supreme Court deadlocked 4-4 over a ballot statement warning that repeal would mean cuts to education and health care, so that language will appear on the ballot.
- [7]
Washington's high court upheld the state's capital gains tax in 2023; it now runs as high as 9.9%.
- [8]
Jeff Bezos sold his Hunts Point mansion for $63 million in spring 2025, the most expensive home sale on record in the state.
- [9]
Bezos bought the 9,420-square-foot Hunts Point property in 2019 for $37.5 million, and sold it for about $25.5 million more than he paid.
- [10]
Bezos moved from Seattle to Miami in late 2023.
- [11]
Bezos posted on Instagram, "My parents have always been my biggest supporters," adding that his aerospace company Blue Origin is increasingly shifting operations to Cape Canaveral in Florida.
- [12]
Bezos is worth $365 billion, making him the world's second-richest person behind Elon Musk.
- [13]
John Pantekidis, managing partner and general counsel at TwinFocus, which manages over $7 billion for ultrahigh-net-worth families, previously told Fortune that Florida makes it "very cost effective for folks like Jeff to live down there. It's ideal, it's nirvana."
- [14]
A household with $1.5 million of income would owe $49,500 a year if the 9.9% applies to every dollar above $1 million (illustrative income).
- [15]
A household with $5 million of income would owe $396,000 a year if the 9.9% applies to every dollar above $1 million (illustrative income).
- [16]
The $5 million household has about 3.3 times the income of the $1.5 million household and owes 8 times the tax.
- [17]
Fortune reported that Bezos sold the mansion before Washington passed a millionaires tax.
- [18]
Fortune says observers have long speculated that the capital gains tax helped drive Bezos to Florida, which has no state income tax.
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