The Democrats' SB 5096 passed the State Senate today, March 6, by 25 to 24. The Senate’s income tax bill now advances to House. SB 5096 will probably continue to advance in the House and ultimately to the governor’s desk.
If that happens and the governor signs it into law, we can expect immediate court challenges regarding the constitutionality of the tax. There should be a statewide referendum to reject this because voters have rejected income tax proposals before.
As for the judicial process, the state Supreme Court has long held that income is “property” and property must be taxed uniformly, not at graduated rates. Unfortunately, the current State Supreme Court has been bought and paid for. Look for this corrupt court to reverse this long standing precedent.
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If you are asking yourself, "What's the big deal... many governments have some sort of income tax...?"
The legislature says this is a tax only on capital gains, it is an unequal tax on income -- that is forbidden by our state constitution.
In the current SB 5096 version, only capital gains are taxed -- income from other sources is exempted. In order to fix that, we will be told that we must expand income to be taxed to all forms of income. And as the camel gets its nose inside the tent, an income tax is sure to spread the burden to other types of income on lower income earners.
The legislature has no plan to reduce other taxes, so there is no benefit to low income persons. This will be a new tax to increase the overall tax burden on Washington state's economy.
We can still oppose this thing. Contact your state representative and let them know your position. You can look up your district at this link: https://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/
The Washington Policy Center has an article "State Income Tax Proposal: What You Need to Know"
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