Millionaire in Washington backs 9.9% tax on income over $1 million

Victoria Hattersley, a 70-year-old retired millionaire in Mount Vernon, Washington, says she supports her state’s proposed tax on millionaires: a 9.9% levy on income above $1 million. The measure would affect less than 1% of state residents and is set to apply to income beginning in 2028, with first payments in 2029.

Hattersley recalls growing up in Trumbull, Connecticut, in a family that wasn’t affluent, and enduring times of real hardship, including using food banks. She later worked in AIDS research at the Harvard School of Public Health, met her husband who led a biostatistics group, and both moved into the pharmaceutical industry; stock options and subsequent investments produced their wealth.

She argues that becoming wealthy involves more than hard work and that luck plays a large role, so those who have prospered should pay their fair share. Hattersley points out that Washington’s tax system is regressive, that lower-income people end up paying a higher share, and that wealthier taxpayers have access to advisors and loopholes.

United States, Mount Vernon, Washington

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