The final tax package adopted last year was the largest tax increase in modern Washington history, going back to at least the early ‘90s. (Digital legislative and fiscal records are spotty before the 2000s.) As we discussed in a report last year, the package was rushed through at the end of the 2025 session, resulting in uncertainty and unintended consequences.

This year, some of the 2025 tax changes were repealed or amended. Additionally, an income tax bill was enacted, and it reduced some taxes and made changes to some of the 2025 bills. (The income tax bill, net of the reductions, jumped to the top of the list of single largest state tax increases.) For example, ESSB 5814, which was enacted last year, applied the sales tax to many new services. ESSB 6346, the 2026 income tax bill, makes many changes to ESSB 5814. These include targeted relief for specific services effective July 1, 2026, and almost a full repeal of the sales tax provisions effective Jan. 1, 2029.

Given the varying effective dates of the provisions of the 2025 and 2026 tax bills, I’ve put together a timeline to help keep them straight. This includes transportation resource bills, which also increased taxes in 2025 and made additional changes in 2026. Note that the timeline includes both tax increases and decreases.

Many of these changes are currently in effect, but many more will take effect in the years ahead. Washington ranks sixth worst in the nation in tax competitiveness based on our tax structure as of July 1, 2025—before most of the new taxes were effective.

(In the timeline, over your cursor over the bars for more information.)