Opinion

Opinion: ‘Low-income workers should not have to give higher-income workers more of their wages’

Elizabeth New (Hovde) of the Washington Policy Center argues that Washington’s paid leave payroll tax burdens low-income workers while primarily benefiting higher earners.

By Clark County Today · April 30, 2025
Opinion: ‘Low-income workers should not have to give higher-income workers more of their wages’
Elizabeth New (Hovde) of the Washington Policy Center argues that Washington’s paid leave payroll tax burdens low-income workers while primarily benefiting higher earners.
Elizabeth New (Hovde) of the Washington Policy Center argues that Washington’s paid leave payroll tax burdens low-income workers while primarily benefiting higher earners.
Elizabeth New (Hovde) of the Washington Policy Center argues that Washington’s paid leave payroll tax burdens low-income workers while primarily benefiting higher earners.

Full-time workers, including low-income ones, pay hundreds of dollars each year for paid leave that most don’t receive; Elizabeth New (Hovde) believes that’s money that could go to other life needs

Elizabeth New (Hovde)
Washington Policy Center

While some supporters of a harmful payroll tax brag that thousands have been helped by it, they fail to mention that millions of workers have not. And making ends meet is more difficult for some workers because of it. Estimate your paid-leave tax here. 

Elizabeth New (Hovde), Washington Policy Center
Elizabeth New (Hovde), Washington Policy Center

The Paid Family and Medical Leave program places self-sufficiency further out of reach for some Washingtonians and should end. But instead of discussing the program’s end, lawmakers nearly passed a bill that would have raised the tax rate to 2%. This mandatory tax on workers started at .4% in 2019. Today it’s at .92%. And it’s no safety net. Middle- and upper-income workers use the program most. 

Full-time workers, including low-income ones, pay hundreds of dollars each year for paid leave that most don’t receive. That’s money that could go to other life needs. 

Read my column in the Washington State Standard about a policy proposal that is likely to return. 

Elizabeth New (Hovde) is a policy analyst and the director of the Centers for Health Care and Worker Rights at the Washington Policy Center. She is a Clark County resident. 

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