Although the People just turned down an income tax in Autumn of 2010, Olympia's greed knows no end.
SB 6548, titled An Act Relating to providing a stable source of revenue for education by imposing a tax on high income earners, has been introduced in the Senate.
If approved as written, the Office of Financial Management said the tax would take $1.5 billion in new taxes over the next nine years.
The voters will be asked to approve amending the state's constitution to allow income taxation. I think the people understand that a "tax on the rich" won't stay that way for long. It will become a tax on everybody.
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These are the sponsors of the bill.
- Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Prime Sponsor (D) Seattle, (360) 786-7670 Jeanne.Kohl-Welles@leg.wa.gov
- Senator Sharon Nelson (D) Vashon (360) 786-7667 Sharon.Nelson@leg.wa.gov
- Senator Karen Keiser (D) Des Moines (360) 786-7664 Karen.Keiser@leg.wa.gov
- Senator Adam Kline, (D) Seattle (360) 786-7688 Adam.Kline@leg.wa.gov
- Senator Debbie Regala (D) Tacoma (360) 786-7652 Debbie.Regala@leg.wa.gov
- Senator Nick Harper (D) Everett (360) 786-7674 Nick.Harper@leg.wa.gov
Updated March 2, 2012
Here we go:
SB 6548 imposes an income tax on "high earners" (later to be expanded to everyone). The stated purpose is to fund education.
HB 2766 imposes an excise tax on the receipt of adjusted gross
income above one million dollars. The concept of defining personal income as sales proceeds is identical to the initiative 1098, turned down by the voters in 2010.
HB 2486 is a monster tax package. It introduces something called the "Corporate Privilege Tax", combined with a personal income tax. The stated purpose is provide for education.
Backers claim sales tax and property tax would be reduced -- thus reducing overall revenues to the state $7,487,420,000 over an 8 year period.
SB 6550 is the Senate version of HB 2486, and is nearly identical.
HB 2744 would replace the business and occupation tax with a flat rate tax on corporate net income. The present business and occupation tax is based on gross business income.
SB 6495 would be a massive personal income tax of $71,666,712,000 over 8 years (the projection runs out that far, but the tax would go on until modified). Backers claim sales tax and property tax would be reduced, reducing the overall tax increase.
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Olympia is searching for new cash sources to fuel their spending habits. The politicians claim every one of the proposed taxes is "fair" or "more fair." More fair than letting us keep the money we've earned, I suppose.
The sales tax and other so called "regressive" taxes in Washington State probably helped moderate some of the impact of the current depression. Sales taxes are applied to consumption, which inhibits waste.
Income tax and other so-called "progressive" taxes tax production. A depression like the current one is a drop in production, which had the nasty side effect of making workers unusable. If the state was taxing income from the remaining productive companies, those companies (and their workers) would have faced a dangerous and unfair burden to their future employment.
The best solution to Olympia's current funding problems is to make the tough choices and reduce state spending.
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