We warned that Washington state is perilously close to passing its first-ever income tax. Now, the governor has signed on and the Dems in Olympia claim they have the votes.

Washington has been one of the fastest growing blue states. It has been a Mecca for spectacularly profitable companies from Microsoft to Amazon to Starbucks. Why? Because they are one of nine states with no income tax.

It gets worse. The “Millionaire Tax,” as it is being called, would impose a rate of 9.9% on the state’s 30,000 millionaires. Overnight, Washington would move from one of the nine lowest income tax states to the fifth HIGHEST. This would make as much sense as South Dakota blowing up Mount Rushmore.

The state Senate has already passed the tax hike and the House has been debating the bill for weeks with Democrats saying they may have the votes to pass it. Governor Bob Ferguson has promised to sign it.

We feel like pulling our hair out that educated people could embrace such a lamebrained idea.

History is unequivocal that adopting an income tax always and everywhere shrinks a state’s economy. Eleven states have adopted an income tax since 1960. West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Illinois, Maine,Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Ohio, New Jersey and most recently, Connecticut.

Laffer Associates has released this amazing chart showing the swift decline in these 11 states.

There’s a memorable line in Bob Dylan’s classic song “Positively 4th Street” that goes: “You just want to be on the side that’s winnin’.” In Olympia, the Left just wants to be on the side that’s losing.