Op-Ed: Don't Believe Corporate Elite Claiming to Fight for 'Affordable Washington'

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

You have probably seen “People for an Affordable Washington” advertisements splashed all over social media. They’re not actually people, but a corporate lobbying firm bankrolled by Microsoft, Alaska Air, the Alliance for a Competitive Economy, Madrona, and T-Mobile. Those are their top five funders.

The Alliance for a Competitive Economy enables the corporate bedfellows of the Association of Washington Business, the Washington Roundtable, and the Washington Research Council to cover for business in a seemingly harmless coalition, now fronted by the “People for an Affordable Washington.”

This corporate front group is running ads intent on cutting public services on which the people in our state rely. They use phony statistics and demeaning Trump-like rhetoric to take down public services. Here’s one claim they make: “Over the last decade, state spending has skyrocketed 114%, an increase of $38.4 billion.”

Let’s take this apart. 2014 government programs for the people of Washington state added up to $45 billion. 2024 government programs amount to $92 billion. This initially seems like a big increase. But when you factor in inflation, it is not 114%, but rather less than half of what the propaganda wants you to believe.

https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/04/02/op-ed-dont-believe-corporate-elite-claiming-to-fight-for-affordable-washington/

[LisaM]

1. State income tax. State income tax.

It's insane that we don't have one. Bezos and Gates alone could make up most of it. The average Joe probably wouldn't even be dinged $100.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Do they also factor in ten years of population growth?