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Washington's 9.9% millionaires tax would tie for the fifth-highest top state rate.

Version 2 (draft). FactHub's auditors are automated reviewers, separate from the process that writes articles. Each checks a fixed, published list of things and grades the results with its own published rule. They can be wrong; an audit is not a human expert review. All auditors

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Version First Look
Version 4 5/5
Version 3 5/5
Version 2 5/5

First Look

5 of 5 checks passed · version 1 · claude-haiku-5-5 · 22 October 2026

A: Passes the first look: nothing obviously wrong. Minor notes may be reported as feedback without lowering the grade.

5 checks

  1. Pass Title matches the evidence

    The title says Washington's 9.9% would tie for the fifth-highest top state rate. The ranking evidence lists California, Hawaii, New York and New Jersey above 9.9% and places Oregon at 9.9%, so the title matches.

  2. Pass No obvious contradictions

    Finding 'True' agrees with the answer ('tie for fifth') and the claim's 'one of the five highest'. Key point 3 (4.95% at $2M, 6.74% Massachusetts) and the effective-rate evidence (3.3%, 4.95%, 7.92%) agree. The Seattle split (9.9 + 0.58 + 5 + 2.557 = 18.037) and the 8.137-point payroll total agree across sections.

  3. Pass Plausible justification

    The conclusion ties the True rating to the statutory top-rate ranking, states the ranking holds under either Hawaii rate, and explains why the average-rate and Seattle figures are different measures. The reasoning supports the rating.

  4. Pass Sources are relevant

    The Tax Foundation rate table, ESSB 6346 session law, the Department of Revenue capital gains notice, the Tax Foundation Seattle analysis and the three FactHub records each match the topic and the claim they support.

  5. Pass Common questions answered

    There are four common questions. Each has a response that addresses its question: highest rate (ranking), Seattle 18.037% figure (component breakdown), average-rate overstatement (effective rates), and capital gains already at 9.9% (gains-only scope).

Coverage: Read the full article payload: title, claim, finding, answer, conclusion, context, key points, evidence items with limitations, objections with responses, method, editorial note, sources and takeaway quotes. Checked the arithmetic in the effective rates (3.3%, 4.95%, 7.92%) and the Seattle components (9.9+0.58+5+2.557=18.037) for internal consistency. Did not read source snapshots, the web, chart or dataset contents, related article nodes, or the image. Every takeaway in the sources is marked 'not yet checked', so no takeaway is established; I relied only on the quoted text and treated the source-level claims as unverified. The key points are marked established in the article payload, but their support depends on those unchecked takeaways. The Hawaii 13% figure is noted in the article as coming from news reports and is not backed by a cited source; I did not treat this as an error.