Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Income tax on the wealthiest in Washington state?
The election is the most talked about thing on TV right now, but aside from the fighting by the candidates and parties is an initiative that could generate more than $11B in the next five years. How? By proposing an income tax (WA doesn't have an income tax now) on people earning more than $200,000 (5%) and more than $500,000 (9%). Bill Gates has come out in support of this tax, but many are against it. It will be interesting to see how the vote plays out.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Surprising result to me:
http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/11/income-tax-initiative-1098-goes-down.html
The people who are against this tax are the people who make more than 200,000 USD a year. These people have huge disposable incomes which will be affected, so maybe they can not take a chartered jet anymore, they will have to resort to having to be in first class with others. I understand it is easy for us, people who do not fit into that category, to criticize. I am sure those people worked hard to get that money, yet, they should give back to the society which allowed them to get that far.
I am more surprised that this idea hasn't been proposed before. For a state that already has zero income tax, it seems as though it would not be a huge burden to pay this 5 or 9%. It does seem somewhat unfair though that only the richest have to pay. You would think that everyone would pay at least something, even if its only 2-3% income tax
I am also surprised it has take this long for an income tax to be proposed but I would find it very unfair to only tax the rich in these communities. Should they not follow the guidelines of the federal government and commit to a progressive tax?
Alaska actually also has no state income or sales tax. We, of course, make our money off of the oil taxes and extracting our natural resources, but it seems reasonable to put some sort of tax in place. It would be interesting to see how Washington generates their revenue without a huge stockpile of natural resources.
I am surprised that I-1098 lost so badly (65 opposed to 35 in favor). Intuitively, I would have guessed that since the vast majority of voters were not in one of these rich income groups, more would have been in support of those who benefit the most from society and are most able to pay giving back to provide opportunities to everyone else through education.
I agree with Andrew and John in the fact that the proposition is just now being proposed. I think the state should put together a progressive tax to all residents rather than only taxing the richest. This would generate a lot of income for the states while still being "fair" for all the resident as opposed to targetting the rich
I agree with the people before me, it does seem weird that there is no income tax in washington state. I feel like there is a strong anti-tax sentiment in America (we do have some of the lowest taxes among developed countries)and so maybe this is the reason why the tax was struck down in washington. but where does washington get its revenue?
Post a Comment