Building on progress
The Washington State Budget and Policy Center works collaboratively with partner organizations, community leaders, advocates, and lawmakers to build an inclusive and equitable economy. In recent years, we have led or been a part of many successes in our state, including:
- Supporting the future of young people who’ve been impacted by the criminal legal system, securing funding for programs that support immigrants, and making progress with cash assistance:
In 2024, we worked with coalition partners and elected leaders to pass a bill that supports young people impacted by the criminal legal system. The bill ensures that harmful debt from legal financial obligations is not only non-collectible for young people who are unable to pay these fines and fees, but the debt is also erased from their records. We further helped advocate for a budget that includes funding to support a Medicaid-like program for immigrants and to create a community energy ambassadors program for equitable distribution of clean energy programs. Lawmakers also included critical funding for outreach to people who qualify for the Working Families Tax Credit so more families who need it know to apply And they included funding for the Department of Commerce to design a direct cash program to serve youth and young adults experiencing homelessness. - Successfully expanding access to the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC), eliminating mandatory fines and fees, and leading the way for the capital gains tax victory:
In 2023, we led the coalition effort to strengthen the Working Families Tax Credit by passing a bill that ensures the eligibility of people married filing separately (a common filing status for survivors of domestic violence) and that ensures people will have more time – up to three years – to claim their credit. We also helped pass a bill that, among other things, eliminates mandatory criminal legal system fines and fees for people who don’t have the ability to pay. And in a major victory for tax justice, the state Supreme Court decisively upheld the capital gains excise tax thanks in part to the amicus briefs we led and signed. - Advancing the equitable implementation of the Working Families Tax Credit and stopping short-sighted tax cuts:
In 2022, we were part of a coalition-driven effort to secure a $10 million investment in community-based outreach for the implementation of the Working Families Tax Credit. This funding will ensure that the historic new credit reaches the Washingtonians who are eligible for it in 2023 by providing information and services in a wide range of languages and communities. In addition, we helped ensure lawmakers prioritized investments in housing, education, and other public services and rejected short-sighted, broad-based tax cuts. - Making historic progress to create a more equitable tax code and ensure the budget includes meaningful community investments:
In 2021, we were part of a broad coalition that successfully advocated for an updated Working Families Tax Credit, which will provide a cash rebate to 420,000 households, including those that file taxes with an Individual Tax Identification (ITIN). And we helped secure the passage of the capital gains tax on extraordinary profits to raise more than $400 million per year in new revenue for investments in public schools, child care, and early learning. Both the WFTC and capital gains tax are important moves to help fix our inequitable tax code. In addition, we helped make the case for legislators to invest in an historic 15% increase in WorkFirst/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families monthly cash grants. - Supporting an equitable recovery from COVID-19:
In 2020, we supported immigrant rights organizations as they led the successful push for a $60 million investment in the Washington Worker Relief Fund, which gave $1,000 emergency payments to Washingtonians who are undocumented and excluded from stimulus efforts. We successfully advocated for legislators to take actions to reverse harmful cuts to WorkFirst/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) so more families can access this critical lifeline when they face hard times. As part of a coalition of progressive revenue advocates, we also helped make the case for passing the JumpStart Seattle tax to generate $200 million a year in equitable revenue to fund COVID relief. - Securing important investments in education, affordable housing, and mental health services:
In 2019, we successfully advocated for legislators to enact new revenue by making the real estate excise tax more progressive, closing outdated tax breaks, and increasing business and occupation tax rates for some large companies. These important tax reforms resulted in almost $1 billion in much-needed investments to strengthen our communities.
To learn more about our impact, see our coverage in the media. Find out how you can help us promote our policy priorities.