Curt Nuccitelli says he is not a Wall Street player, just a Kent trucking boss trying to keep 14 paychecks going out the door. Now he is one of the faces of a major legal brawl over Washington’s brand‑new millionaires tax, arguing it will hit small operators like his Spirit Transport Systems hard enough to derail hiring, wages and equipment upgrades. The challenge landed this week in Klickitat County and is already shaping up as a statewide showdown.
What the complaint says
The lawsuit, filed Thursday by the Citizen Action Defense Fund, asks Klickitat County Superior Court for a declaratory judgment that the state’s 9.9% tax on income above $1 million violates Washington’s constitution by treating income as property and blowing past the uniformity requirement and 1% cap, according to Citizen Action Defense Fund. The filing names Nuccitelli and several other business owners and trade groups who say they would be on the hook for the levy. The plaintiffs want the court to keep the law from taking effect in 2028 while judges sort out the constitutional fight.
Kent owner warns of a small‑business squeeze
Nuccitelli runs Spirit Transport Systems out of the Kent Valley and told KGW his drayage outfit, which he said employs about 14 people, operates on margins too thin to simply swallow a steep new tax. He pointed to surprise hits such as a roughly $100,000 sewer‑pipe repair that chewed up cash he had hoped to put toward new hires or trucks. Spirit Transport’s website lists Nuccitelli as CEO and spotlights the company’s work moving goods through the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.
Supporters say revenue will pay for schools and care
Backers of the plan say the tax is aimed squarely at the state’s wealthiest residents and would generate billions to expand K‑12 meals, child care and health programs while beefing up the Working Families Tax Credit. As laid out by Senate Democrats, the law takes effect Jan. 1, 2028, with collections starting in 2029, and sponsors say most households will never see a bill. Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the measure on March 30, and supporters argue that its investments will help Washington rely less on regressive sales taxes, according to reporting by Axios.
What happens next
Because the complaint digs into long‑running constitutional questions over whether income counts as property for tax purposes, legal observers expect the case could move quickly up to the Washington Supreme Court. A separate group seeking to repeal the law has already asked the state’s high court for permission to put a referendum on the ballot, and the justices agreed to consider that petition at an April 30 en banc conference, according to coverage by the Lynnwood Times. That procedural fight means the ultimate fate of the tax could be decided months or years before the state ever collects a dollar.
For Nuccitelli and other small employers, the case is less about legal theory and more about next year’s budget. He told KGW he may delay investments, scale back hiring or trim wages rather than simply pass higher costs to customers, a set of choices that could ripple through the Kent Valley and supply chains feeding the ports. The court battle will determine whether those local concerns are enough to derail a sweeping statewide revenue plan before it ever leaves the dock.
