To Tax More Rich ‎

Washington State, where politics is as liberal as it gets, has an initiative on its Nov. 2 election ballot to charge a personal income tax on the “rich,” according to an Oct 26 special report by the Tax Foundation. Presently it’s one of seven states with no individual income tax. Washington State voters, along with other Americans will be worriedly awaiting Congress’s decision in the lame duck session next month whether to let the Bush tax cuts expire on Dec. 31. President Obama and his fellow lefties in Congress have bellowed endlessly that the Bush tax drops favor the “rich.”

Washington State’s Initiative 1098 would initiate an income tax on high earners at a rate of 5 percent on income over $200,000 ($400,000 for couples) and 9 percent on income over $500,000 ($1 million for couples). “Officials guess that the new tax would raise approximately $2.2 billion per year. Of that amount $600 million would be used to decrease property taxes by about 4 percent and provide additional credits against the state gross receipts tax.” New spending on health care and education would assert the left over $1.6 billion.

If proposition 1098 passes, “a constitutional challenge is likely,” writes Joseph Henchman. Director of state projects for the Tax Foundation. Since the income tax was ruled unconstitutional in the state, voters there have discarded previous attempts to accept an income tax. “Washington’s planned new income tax “would be out of the norm in two respects, said Henchman. “It will relate to all adjusted gross income with no exemptions or deductions, and it will apply only to high-income earners.” Further, “just as numerous other states are overturning so-called millionaires’ taxes or allowing them to expire, Washington would be accepting one.”

Washington’s constitution has a uniformity section. Its purpose has been described as “strict constitutional supplies requiring equal and uniform taxation.” The initiative’s extremely slim base (exempting over 98 percent of taxpayers) would probably violate that provision,” Henchman wrote. In essence, a mass of voters would decide whether to impose a tax on 1.2 percent of the population.