Washblog

1 Percent Income Tax Proposed for Washington Millionaires: SB 6147

According to Joe Turner, in a 2/12/09 entry on the Tacoma News Tribune blog, Senator Rosa Franklin introduces an income tax bill every year.  She's always the only sponsor, Turner writes, and her bill is always a "non-starter".   This year, though, Turner noted that a lot of work went into the fiscal note for the bill (SB 5104) and wondered if it might be "for real".   Franklin's bill is a tiered income tax.

Well, now there's something else new.  As Rachel La Corte points out in a Seattle PI article today, Senate Democrats have introduced another bill.   This one is SB 6147.  It's sponsored by Kohl-Welles, Regala, McDermott, Murray, Kline, and Fraser.  Ways and Means Chair, Senator Prentice, has indicated openness to holding a public hearing.  It would institute a 1% tax on single people making $500,000 or more annually or couples making $1 million or more.  And the proceeds would be applied to education.

Hmmm

< Wealth vs Democracy | And we were annoyed and amused when older Bay Center ladies said the same thing >
Display: Sort:
has some useful analysis here.

And Pubicola here.

by DWE on Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 08:32:36 PM PST

* 1 none 0 *


the people of Washington State, if the 1% bill was modified to kick in above $200,000 and generated a little over $600 million over two years. At this level it could pass out with a simple majority and go to the voters. Anthing over 1% would take a 2/3 vote though.

by Particle Man on Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 10:18:02 AM PST

* 3 none 0 *


has come out against a "high incomes" income tax, as reported here.

This is what I mean by defeatism in Olympia.

by DWE on Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 11:16:48 AM PST

* 5 none 0 *


...history of washington income tax law, courtesy of the washington department of revenue:

Appendix B: Income Tax
Constitutional Issues
History of Court Decisions
In 1933, the Washington State Supreme Court overturned a graduated state income
tax that had been proposed by initiative and approved by more than 70 percent of the
voters. Culliton v. Chase, 174 Wash. 363, 289 P.2d 81 (1933). Many people assume
that Culliton is still good law and that Washington courts would reach a similar
decision today. If that is true, a constitutional amendment would be necessary before
the state could impose any income tax other than a flat tax on gross income at a rate
no more than 1 percent. However, there is ample reason to believe that a modern
income tax, established by the Legislature or by the voters, would now be upheld.
The basic reason is that Culliton was based on an earlier Washington case which the
State Supreme Court clearly misread. More importantly, the earlier case was based
on a line of United States Supreme Court cases that have subsequently been reversed.
Our Court would likely take a “clean slate” approach to the income tax today.
Culliton relied on Aberdeen Savings & Loan Assoc. v. Chase, 157 Wash. 351, 289 P.
536, reh’g den. 157 Wash. 391, 290 P. 697 (1930). The lead opinion in Culliton
stated that Aberdeen had held that income is property, that a tax on income must
therefore be uniform, and that a nonuniform income tax violated Washington’s
Constitution. As it happens, Aberdeen did not decide that income was a form of
property, at least not under the Washington Constitution. In Aberdeen, the plaintiffs
challenged a tax on savings and loan associations that was higher than taxes on banks
organized as corporations. The primary thrust of the savings and loans’ challenge
was that under a United States Supreme Court ruling, Quaker City Cab Co. v.
Pennsylvania, 277 U.S. 389 (1928), the differential tax treatment of corporate and
non-corporate businesses violated the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.
The plaintiffs also argued that MacAllen Co. v. Massachusetts, 279 U.S. 620 (1929),
prohibited state taxation of federal bond interest. Aberdeen never discussed the issue
of whether an income tax was equivalent to a property tax. In fact, the majority
opinion in that case assumed that the proposed levy was an excise tax on the privilege
of financial institutions to engage in business. Because the Attorney General and a
1930 Advisory Tax Commission were concerned that Aberdeen might be
misunderstood as disapproving an income tax, they expressly asked the Court to
clarify whether a determination that income was or was not property was necessary
for a resolution in that case. While denying reconsideration in Aberdeen and a
companion case, the Court said that its opinions “were rendered with a view to
determining the questions present by the cases at bar, and those questions only.” 157
Wash. at 392. The Court also stated that its decisions were based on United States
Supreme Court precedents relating to the Equal Protection Clause. Id. Both in the
main Aberdeen opinion and in the opinion denying the petitions for rehearing, the
4
Court took pains to emphasize that it was issuing limited rulings based on the U.S.
Constitution and was not ruling on the character of the corporate tax under
Washington’s Constitution.
In decisions rejecting later income tax proposals, the Court repeated the mistaken
view that it had treated income as property in Aberdeen, readopted that approach in
Culliton, and therefore regarded the matter as settled. (See, e.g., Jensen v. Henneford,
185 Wash. 209, 53 P.2d 607 (1936); Power Inc. v. Huntley, 39 Wn.2d 191, 235 P.2d
173 (1951)). But in fact the matter had not been settled in Aberdeen, and the United
States Supreme Court decisions relied upon in Aberdeen have all been reversed.
Today there are only two states (Pennsylvania and Washington) whose courts have
not reversed earlier decisions treating income as property. In all other states where
this issue has been considered, the income tax is treated as a form of excise tax or in a
category of its own. Accordingly, there is a reasonable likelihood that if the
Washington State Legislature or voters enacted an income tax today, Washington’s
courts would approach the issue with a fresh view and might very well decide the
matter in a manner consistent with the dominant view in other states with similar
constitutional provisions.
(This discussion has been prepared by Committee member Hugh Spitzer, based on his
article, A Washington State Income Tax—Again? 16 U. Puget Sound L. Rev. 515
(1993).)

http://dor.wa.gov/Content/AboutUs/StatisticsAndReports/WAtaxstudy/Appendix_B.pdf

"...if you need a goat fu%#*@, cnn will do it..." --john oliver, "the daily show", 10/12/2009

by fake consultant on Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 08:10:59 PM PST

* 6 none 0 *


Display: Sort:

 

 

 

PNW TOPIC HOTLIST

Login

Make a new account
Username:
Password:

 HELP

Recommended Diaries

Washblog RSS Feeds

Political Contacts

Local Media

Coastal/Grays Harbor
Aberdeen Daily World
Chinook Observer
Montesano Vidette
Pacific County Press
Willapa Harbor Herald
KXRO 1320 AM

Olympic Peninsula
Peninsula Daily News
Bremerton Sun
Bremerton Chronicle
Gig Harbor Gateway
Port Orchard Independent
Port Townsend Leader
North Kitsap Herald
Squim Gazette
Central Kitsap Reporter
Business Examiner
KONP 1450 AM

Sound and Islands
Anacortes American
Bainbridge Review
Voice Of Bainbridge
San Juan Journal
The Islands' Sounder
Whidbey NewsTimes
South Whidbey Record
Stanwood/Camano News
Vashon Beachcomber
Voice Of Vashon
KLKI 1340 AM

North Puget Sound
Bellingham Herald
The Northern Light
Everett Herald
Skagit Valley Herald
Lynden Tribune
The Enterprise
Snohomish County Tribune
Snohomish County Business Journal
The Monroe Monitor
The Edmonds Beacon
KGMI 790 AM
KELA 1470 AM
KRKO 1380 AM

Central Puget Sound
King County Journal
Issaquah Press
Mukilteo Beacon
Voice of the Valley
Federal Way Mirror
Bothell/Kenmore Reporter
Kirkland courier
Mercer Island Reporter
Woodinville Weekly

Greater Seattle
Seattle PI
Seattle Times
KOMO TV 4
KIRO TV 7
KING 5 TV
KTBW TV 22
KCTS 9
UW Daily
The Stranger
Seattle Weekly
Capitol Hill Times
Madison Park Times
Seattle Journal of Commerce
NW Asian Weekly
West Seattle Herald
North Seattle Herald-Outlook
South Seattle Star
Magnolia News
Beacon Hill News
KIRO 710 AM
KOMO AM 1000
KEXP 90.3 FM
KUOW 94.9 FM
KVI 570 AM

South Puget Sound
The Columbian
Longview Daily News
Nisqually Valley News
Lewis County News
The Reflector
Eatonville Dispatch
Tacoma News Tribune
Tacoma Weekly
Puyallup Herald
Enumclaw Courier-Herald
The Olympian
KAOS 89.3 FM
KCPQ 13
KOWA FM 106.5
UPN 11

Cascade/Okanogan
Ellensburg Daily Record
Levenworth Echo
Cle Elum Tribune
Snoqualmie Valley Record
Methow Valley News
Lake Chelan Mirror
Omak chronicle
The Newport Miner

Spokane/Palouse
The Spokesman-Review
KREM 2 TV Spokane
KXLY News 4 Spokane
KHQ 6 Spokane
KSPS Spokane
Statesman-Examiner
Othello Outlook
Cheney Free Press
Camas PostRecord
The South County sun
White Salmon Enterprise
Palouse Boomerang
Columbia Basin Herald
Grand Coulee Star
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Yakima Herald-Republic
KIMA 29 Yakima
KAPP TV 35 Yakima
KYVE Yakima
Wenatchee World
Tri-City Herald
TVEW TV 42 Tri-cities
KTNW Richland
KEPR 19 Pasco
Daily Sun News
Prosser Record-Bulletin
KTCR 1340 AM
KWSU Pullman
Moscow-Pullman Daily News