No. of Recommendations: 2
Explain and give a cite please.Washington State wanted to pass a state wide income tax of some kind to soak the rich. But they ran into a problem: The Washington State Constitution, which says
https://law.justia.com/constitution/washington/con...All taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of property within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax and shall be levied and collected for public purposes only. The word "property" as used herein shall mean and include everything, whether tangible or intangible, subject to ownership. Which clearly states that all taxes on "the same class of property" shall be taxed at the same rate. "Property" refers to everything - tangible and intangible - that you own.
Like...your income. So a graduated income tax in Washington State is unconstitutional per the WA state constitution, Article 7, Section 1, Amendment 14.
You may read a bit from a liberal-friendly link. Don't worry, it's the local NPR affiliate, so it won't hurt:
https://www.kuow.org/stories/strange-short-story-w...The bit to take away from it is this
But Washington clings to its 1935 tax system.
A state income tax has come up for a vote seven times since that Supreme Court decision.
Every time, voters have rejected it.But that has never stopped the WA legislature and a series of democrat WA governors, oh, no. Why let pesky rules stop you when there's virtue to signal? Last year the dems rammed through a tax on Capital Gains.
For Americans in every other state, Capital gains are income. Why? Because the IRS classifies capital gains as realized income and taxes it at special rates:
https://www.irs.gov/filing/taxable-incomeWA state dems decided that capital gains...aren't really income. So a tax on it is perfectly cool...if they call it an "excise tax".
Which they did.
https://www.geekwire.com/2023/capital-gains-tax-ru...This was sued for being unconstitutional, but since we have 7 libs on the WA Supreme Court...voila! Captial gains aren't actually income.
The Washington state Supreme Court ruled that a statewide tax on capital gains is lawful, allowing the legislation to move forward nearly two years after it was approved by lawmakers.
The central issue for the court was to determine whether the capital gains tax is an income tax or a sales tax.
In its opinion issued Friday, the court concluded that the capital gains tax “is a valid excise tax under Washington law.” Justices voted 7-2.Bwahahahahahahahahaha.
