State Democrats Plan to Delay WA Cares Fund Payroll Tax

(Olympia, WA) -- State Democratic lawmakers are proposing legislation to delay the start of Washington's upcoming long-term care payroll tax. State Republicans have generally been opposed since the beginning, but now Democratic members of the State House introduced two bills this week that would halt the new WA Cares Fund. The first, House Bill 1732, would delay the implementation of the WA Cares Fund payroll tax until July 2023 and refund any premiums that have been collected before that date. The second, Bill 1733, would allow more people to opt out of the tax.

The fund was originally passed in 2019. Lawmakers have since started working to fix various problems with it--including the possibility that some people would pay into the fund without ever reaping any benefits.