OLYMPIA – Beginning Saturday, July 1, a new payroll tax kicks in for most Washington workers to fund the state’s new long-term care insurance program.
It’s too late now to opt out of the WA Cares program. And if you haven’t, you’ll be paying 58 cents for every one-hundred-dollars you earn from your paycheck for a lifetime maximum long-term care benefit of 36-thousand-500 dollars. Those who work in Washington and live in Idaho will be taxed but never be able to receive the benefits, unless they obtain an exemption.
Republican State Representative Peter Abbarno of Centralia says it’s an “unpopular, inadequate and regressive” program, and just a bad deal for Washington workers.
“This is a short-term, not a long-term, and an inadequate benefit that many, including my kids, who are 11 and 12, will be paying into probably more than they’ll ever get out of,” said Abbarno.
For the past two years, Abbarno offered legislation supported by Republicans to repeal the program and the tax, but majority Democrats wouldn’t allow a hearing on the bill. That means starting Saturday, someone earning $75-thousand dollars annually in Washington will be giving up 435-dollars of their paycheck to the state. “And that’s money that so many people are going to invest in this program and never receive the benefit from,” said Abbarno.