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After nearly 24 hours of verbal debate, the turning down of nearly all Republican amendments by the majority Democrats, and the denial of press passes to local journalists not in the Legacy Propaganda Media, the blatantly unconstitutional "Millionaires Tax" passed on a 51-46 vote. A couple of Democrats voted NO, but not enough to make any difference. For over 40 years, the Democrats have been salivating over an income tax, and now they have it. At 9.9%, this will make Washington the highest-taxed state in the country.
The Washington State Constitution forbids a graduated income tax, stating that all taxes must be equal on equivalent classes of citizens, which their tax is obviously not. State Democrats have stated for the record that the initial 1-million-dollar "exemption" written into the law can be changed at any time with a simple majority vote, and that they intend to do so as soon as they can, making certain that all citizens will be subject to the tax in a few years. What's really evil is that they attached an "emergency" provision to the bill, forbidding any citizen initiatives to overturn the bill. This is especially rich, given that the tax doesn't take effect until 2029! Emergency?
Washington Democrats have packed the state supreme court with hard-leftists, whom they know will, in defiance of the constitution, find a way to approve the income tax. We expect lawsuits to be filed as soon as the useless Republicans can get their act together. Individuals and businesses all over the state have already telegraphed that they will be initiating moves away from Washington if the tax passes. Washington businesses already pay a business and occupation tax, which is a "gross receipts" tax, and now they will have to pay an income tax, too. The bill has no provisions for reducing other state taxes, like the 10% sales tax, with the passage of the income tax.
Just today, Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, announced his move to Florida. Tech executives implored the legislature not to pass the income tax, so we expect a flood of tech companies out of the state. Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta all have big offices in the Seattle area, which are now at risk.
For the past few weeks, I have been posting on my blog about this tax and who is doing what about it. Below are my posts for your reading pleasure:
Discussion (46)
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SC will collect some of those millionaires. We already have Boeing here. One of the first amendments we need to add in the next convention is the ability of counties to vote to join neighboring states. Radical, yes. But it would force cities to either moderate policies or they would become isolated city states that produce little and are dependent on other states for food and electricity. The 50-state country came with an expiration date. Reality. It is expensive buying up-to-date National Geographic world globes to keep up with the ever-changing country borders. CA, OR, and WA don't make my life better. I have a passport and can visit them but only San Diego entices me.
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If Oregon decides to create a sales tax, the Northwest will be completely ended as we know it.
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Monkey see, monkey do
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Citizens and residents should always assume that any tax initially targeting a small group of people (usually high income) WILL eventually be applied to a much broader group of people. Maybe even all people.
Any tax labeled "temporary" will become permanent.
Any tax labeled "one time only" will be repeated.
Any tax labeled as "in lieu of" some other preexisting tax will become "in addition to" the other preexisting tax unless the preexisting tax is repealed before the new tax is approved.
This is the history of taxes. It is almost universal.
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If there is any amusement to be found in this, it is the choice "9.9%". Retail store price label psychology applied to taxation.
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