Washington's Supreme Court just protected a millionaires' tax from a billionaire's veto

Washington's Supreme Court blocked a referendum on the state's new 9.9% millionaires' tax. Unanimous. The tax hits personal income over $1 million — the first million is exempt, so we're talking about people who make more than a million dollars a year. The conservative group Let's Go Washington wanted a public vote to kill it. The court said no: under the state constitution, revenue measures that fund state government aren't subject to referendum. That's it. That's the ruling.

The guy who funded the challenge is Brian Heywood, a hedge-fund founder. His argument was that the tax doesn't collect until 2029, so calling it "necessary for state government" is a legal fiction. Chief Justice Debra Stephens disagreed. So did every other justice on that court. Opponents can still pursue an initiative to overturn the law, but they'd need 308,911 signatures by July 2 to land it on the ballot this cycle. That's roughly twice the signatures a referendum would have required.

Here's the part worth sitting with. The people who hate this tax the most are the people who can most afford to pay it. Brian Heywood will be fine. He will not miss a meal. He will not lose his apartment. He will fund another lawsuit, probably. The separate constitutional challenge to the income tax itself is already filed and won't be decided for about a year. So yes, this is a win. But the hedge fund guys aren't done.