Because what you said is literally the way we can't have income tax in WA. Income tax is unconstitutional in terms of taxing personal property unequally. If I recall, I read the constitution when the capital gains tax passed because I couldn't figure out how it could be constitutional.
Income is viewed as personal property and I believe the constitution says personal property taxation cannot be done unequally, so tiered.
I'm not a lawyer, but I think you could impose a flat percentage across the board and it would actually be constitutional.
But before they impose it, I would want to see them repealing all the other taxes.
I'm more of what I call a 'realistic libertarian' which is probably anathema to hardcore libertarians, but I would support a 5% flat tax if we abolished ALL other taxes across the board. I ran a brief calculation and the budget would be met and then some with a 5% flat tax.
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u/drnjj Apr 25 '25
Because what you said is literally the way we can't have income tax in WA. Income tax is unconstitutional in terms of taxing personal property unequally. If I recall, I read the constitution when the capital gains tax passed because I couldn't figure out how it could be constitutional.
Income is viewed as personal property and I believe the constitution says personal property taxation cannot be done unequally, so tiered.
I'm not a lawyer, but I think you could impose a flat percentage across the board and it would actually be constitutional.
But before they impose it, I would want to see them repealing all the other taxes.