This is going to be a vicious fight - and one that we need to have. Here in WA, like Texas, we do not have a state income tax, and even mentioning one is the third rail of state politics. It means that we have a terribly regressive tax system (one of the very few things I dislike about the state). This year the Lege tabled a bill to place a small tax on people with an annual income of over 1 million dollars, almost exactly the state's top 1% of earners threshold. Almost immediately constant radio ads popped up about the state not raising taxes, funded by the usual suspects who would have C-suite people affected by it (Microsoft, T-Mobile, Expedia, Amazon, Alaska Airlines, etc.). Nothing, of course, about the 99% that do not have 7-figure incomes and would not be affected.
This fight is going on in a state that has a near-supermajority D legislature, the second-largest economy per capita in the country (after NY), and the fourth highest income required to be 1% (after CT, MA and CA). Even here the Dems are not messaging it well at all, and that speaks to the discussion here and in the NYT's op-ed above. This stuff needs to be hammered home.