From Newsgroup: alt.law-enforcement

from https://seattlered.com/economy/viet-nguyen-washington-millionaires-tax-unconstitutional/4117728?fbclid=IwY2xjawRD6S1leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFvcThaa0lnS3FteGFxTGJhc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHnDIjL3-d8i3fVaF8s6ctY7JqeiGcwlI-c6XsycwzYb3_ykcPkSG94HdUEbH_aem_0Xz8ZccTqlY3qiFEhft2nw

Rantz: A political moderate and refugee from Vietnam just dismantled WashingtonrCOs income tax lie
Apr 7, 2026, 5:00 AM

Viet Nguyen, Seattle tech executive and former president of 5G Americas, pictured near Amazon's reI...
Viet Nguyen, a Seattle-based tech executive and political moderate,
warned that Washington's new 9.9% millionaires tax violates the state's
social contract rCo despite not being subject to it himself. Background: Amazon's reInvent Plaza near The Spheres in Seattle. (Jason Rantz, Viet Nguyen)

BY JASON RANTZ
Talk Show Host and Columnist at Seattle Red

Viet Nguyen does not make over a million dollars and wonrCOt owe a penny
under WashingtonrCOs new so-called millionaires tax. He said so himself in
a Seattle Times op-ed that has been making the rounds well beyond
conservative circles, and for good reason. Nguyen, a Seattle-based tech communications executive and former president of 5G Americas who came to
this state as a refugee from Vietnam, spent the time to read the bill,
study the case law, and write directly to the billrCOs lead sponsor
seeking answers. What he got back deepened his alarm rather than
settling it.

He is, by his own description, a political moderate who has worked
campaigns on both sides of the aisle. That is precisely what makes his conclusion so devastating for Democrats in Olympia. When your critics
include people who have no financial stake in the outcome and who have
spent time in your own political coalition, the spin that this is just conservatives protecting their rich donors stops working.

RELATED STORIES
Rantz: Investor says he and his business are leaving Washington over
illegal income tax
New data shows Washington residents fleeing state as Democrats sign
income tax
Brian Heywood files referendum against Washington income tax SB 6346 as Democrats invoke necessity clause
Rantz: Here's the devious reason Gov. Bob Ferguson hasn't yet signed the Washington income tax into law
WashingtonrCOs no-income-tax identity and why SB 6346 feels like a betrayal

The foundation of NguyenrCOs argument is not a tax policy wonk objection.
It is something more visceral and harder for Democrats to dismiss.

rCLThere are a couple of things that you sort of rely on,rCY he explained on The Jason Rantz Show on Seattle Red 770 AM. rCLItrCOs the huge amount of
rain and the fact that thererCOs no state income tax. Throughout my life, itrCOs just one of those things that you kind of relied on and became
really fundamental to our identity as Washingtonians. And so when I
watched this kind of slow motion train wreck happening this year down in Olympia, I sort of sat up and said, rCythis is awful.'rCY

He also put the revenue argument in its proper context. Washington state government spending has roughly doubled on a per-capita,
inflation-adjusted basis over the last 25 years. Nguyen pointed that out directly to his own state senator when he reached out.

rCLAfter you account for population and inflation, werCOre paying more,
twice as much for every single person here in the state than we had,rCY he noted. rCLSo this is really ending up actually being a spending issue than anything.rCY

Democrats blocked every amendment to protect middle-income earners
The mechanics of what happened in Olympia are worth understanding
clearly, because the framing being sold to the public does not survive
the facts. Voters adopted Initiative 2111 in 2024 by overwhelming
margins, banning any tax on personal income. Less than two years later,
the same legislature amended the very ban it had codified and called the result an excise tax. Nguyen is not buying it.

rCLEverybody knows that this is an income tax,rCY he said. rCLYou donrCOt go and
amend the actual part that Initiative 2111 established. That was a ban
on an income tax. You donrCOt go and create a carve out.rCY

When Republicans on the floor tried to permanently lock the $1 million threshold so it could never be lowered to reach middle-income earners, Democrats blocked them at every turn. Then they added an emergency
clause to prevent a public referendum, on a tax that does not even take
effect until 2028. Nguyen captured the absurdity of that move plainly.

rCLThe straw that broke the camelrCOs back for me is then they threw on the emergency clause,rCY he said. rCLThey said, rCyhey, this is something that is going to be really critical to the functioning Washington state
government. And so werCOre not going to allow a voter referendum to
occur.rCO And this is the kind of thing that just sort of raises some real
red flags.rCY

Business exodus accelerates as Bezos and Schultz flee WashingtonrCOs new income tax
The economic consequences are not hypothetical. Jeff Bezos left. Howard Schultz announced his own departure the day the governor signed this
into law. Nguyen sees the trajectory clearly.

rCLThere are several sites now that are starting to point to businesses leaving, commitments being made elsewhere,rCY he warned. rCLA lot of these large companies, theyrCOre not necessarily going to say, hey, werCOre going
to just pack up and leave our headquarters, but what theyrCOre going to do
is theyrCOre going to prioritize their hiring and investments elsewhere,
in other states, and thatrCOs really going to cripple our economy. This is
a self-inflicted wound.rCY

The deeper issue is what happens if the Supreme Court upholds the tax.
The $1 million threshold becomes a political choice, not a legal
constraint. Democrats have already demonstrated they have no interest in locking it in place. Nguyen drew the line with precision in his Seattle
Times piece, writing that the path to tax reform runs through the Constitution, not around it. He told me the same thing in plain terms.

rCLAs a longtime Washington resident, I look at this and I go, this has
never been part of our social contract,rCY he said. rCLAnd this should
require much more effort on their part.rCY

He is a moderate. He is not funded by any billionaire. He just read the
bill, did his homework, and said what a lot of Washingtonians are
thinking. Olympia Democrats should pay attention.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3 p.m. rCo 7
p.m. on Seattle Red on 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe
to the podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on X, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.




--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2