Washington governor proposes his state’s first income tax: 9.9% rate.

[i]Photo above - Excelsior! The Washington State Capitol building, where legislators are debating whether to increase the personal income tax from zero to 9.9%. There is a $15 billion state budget shortfall.[/i]

I wasn’t even AWARE that the state of Washington had zero personal income tax until Governor Ferguson proposed the state’s first: A 9.9% levy. Before you assume voters will go crazy, there’s a method to Ferguson’s madness. He’s only going to tax “millionaires”. Nobody else. See link below.

This of course will make it easy for state legislators to vote in favor of the bill. Only 7% of the residents are millionaires. The other 93% WON'T be pleading with their elected officials to vote no. Instead, they are probably taking Ferguson’s bait that he might, maybe cut the state’s sales tax (6.5%).

Reality check, I certainly DO believe millionaires should pay income tax. Not just in the state of Washington, but all across America. I just don’t believe they’re the only ones who should pay income tax. If this bill goes forward, we might see a LOT of executive pay packages change to “$999,000 - plus stock options and incentives which won’t vest for 5 years”. I do not expect to see a lot of Washingtonians fleeing to next door Oregon. The Beaver state already has a top income tax rate of 9.9%. Non millionaire Oregonians pay 4.75% and up, on a progressive basis, like normal states.

Okay, so there’s 200,000 millionaires in Washington. Names like Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, MacKenzie Scott (divorced from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos), and the heads of Starbucks, McCaw cellular, Zillow, and a bunch of other easy to recognize corporations. They aren’t moving to Oregon. But Mackenzie Scott might fly down to Florida, like her ex-husband. The weather is certainly better there, and the income tax rate is zero.

What’s a fair income tax? Certainly not zero for almost everyone, and 10% on the top sliver of earners. This is a transparent political stunt which seems to violate common sense and the public interest.

What Governor Ferguson did NOT suggest in his speech was a reduction in state government spending. In fact, spending is going up by billions in the next budget cycle, and they're already $15 billion in the red. Half of the state's budget goes to public schools. More big chunks to free day care and college. These all seem like great aspirations. But a budget which is $15 billion out of balance? There has to be some hidden fluff which could be trimmed, no?

I’m just sayin’ . . .

'Millionaires should contribute more': Governor backs tax increase

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

He presumably did not suggest a reduction in state government spending because he has no democratic mandate to do so. Schools, day care and colleges are more than "great aspirations", they are essential public services that are supported by the vast majority of taxpayers.

Why should it automatically be assumed that there is fat to be trimmed? Public services do not pay dividends to shareholders, pay lower salaries than their private counterparts, achieve efficiencies through centralised procurement, etc.

Yes, there should be a maturer debate about how to spread the burden of taxation (trying to extract higher income tax from rich people is, in my experience, an exercise in noble futility), but at the end of the day society demands services that need to be paid for.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@SunshineGirl claiming the public doesn't want spending and tax reform is disingenuous.

this is why spending bills are passed by legislatures at midnight, without being fully read.

plausible deniability - "i didn't know what was in it"

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@SusanInFlorida I would like to meet one single politician who would be brave enough to stand on a genuine platform of spending and tax reform (ratjer than the usual method of mindlessly scapegoating an unpopular minority as @sunsporter1649 did above) and explicitly outline and defend the cuts that will actually have to be made to popular stuff like schools and pensions. At the end of the day, the electorate gets the calibre of politicians that it merits when it makes conflicting and irrational demands of them.