The next legislative session is fast approaching and some state lawmakers are wasting no time in signaling their intent to either fully remove or limit the impacts of the slew of new state taxes approved in the 2025 legislative session.
Washington Research Council recently reported that three pre-filed House bills would impact the tax package, passed as ESSB 5814, which is estimated to raise state revenues by $1.1 billion for the 2025-27 biennium and by $1.5 billion in the 2027-29 biennium.
- HB 2130 would repeal ESSB 5814 in its entirety, effective April 1, 2026.
- HB 2101 would exempt live presentations that are delivered in person to in-person participants from retail sales and use tax as imposed by ESSB 5814.
- HB 2121 would exempt certain entities from paying the sales tax on the specific services that are taxable under ESSB 5814, such as temporary staffing services and live presentations. HB 2121 would exempt public schools, higher education institutions and many nonprofits from those newly imposed taxes.
Two other pre-filed bills aim to reinstate tax preferences—that is, exemptions, deductions and tax credits—that were eliminated by another 2025 bill, ESSB 5794. That bill repealed business & occupation (B&O) tax exemptions for the sale of precious metals and bullion and was estimated to increase revenues by $25 million in 2025–27 and by $35 million in 2027–29.
- HB 2115 would restore the B&O tax exemptions. The repeal takes effect Jan. 1, 2026; the proposed restoration would apply retroactively to Jan. 1, 2026.
- HB 2093 would also restore the exemptions but it would take effect July 1, 2026.
The 2026 legislative session begins Jan. 12.