Hi, I'm Joshua McNichols.

And I'm Monica Nicholsberg.

We host KUOW's Economy Podcast, booming.

ChatGPT may feel like magic, but every time you ask AI a question, it goes to a real place.

AI has a back end, and it looks like massive data centers sprawling across farmland in central Washington.

On our latest episode, is our AI obsession good for small town America?

Listen to booming on the KUOW app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Good afternoon from the KUOW Newsroom.

This is Seattle now.

I'm Paige Browning.

Coming up, Peruvians are more on edge this week in Washington

after a couple in the Yakima Valley was detained by ICE and deported.

But first, here's our roundup of today's top stories.

It's Wednesday, April 16th.

The big story in Washington politics today, a wealth tax won't be the cure-all for the state's budget gap.

Washington Democrats have tossed out their proposed wealth tax plan. The governor rejected the tax plan anyway.

Now they're pitching a set of tax changes instead. Olympia correspondent

Jeannie Lindsay explains. The new revenue plan from Democrats would boost some taxes on big

businesses and banks, open the door to property tax increases, and expand the state's capital gains tax. Senator Noel Frame is the Senate's

finance lead. I think it still follows the spirit of the original revenue proposal. We had

several components where we asked the wealthiest residents to pay what they owe. We asked large

corporations to pay what they owe. The revised slate of tax proposals comes after Democrats pitched a budget that included a major new wealth tax.

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