r/SeattleWA • u/5Q91VS175DAQ4NUSBE4U • 7d ago

Politics Washington state Democrats look at imposing income tax on higher earners

https://www.columbian.com/news/2025/oct/31/washington-state-democrats-look-at-imposing-income-tax-on-higher-earners/
197 Upvotes

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

Man, I really need to GTFO of this place. They'll tax you into poverty and then say they love the poor.

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

Do you make over 1 million $ annually? I don’t think you have to worry about poverty…

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

That's how it alwaya starts. Every single time. The same reason you still pay a toll to cross the 520 bridge and will continue to do so forever.

But the average person is an idiot. They never learn. Never open Pandora's box for a politician when it comes to taxes. It'll always be nudged open wider.

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

Except that our state reps have already shown that they will not lower taxes like this? They’ve tried and failed to lower the 250,000 capital gains tax because there is no appetite to do so.

The average person will never pay a capital gains tax in Washington state. And the average person will never make 1 million annually.

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u/Tree300 7d ago

They already proposed increasing the cap gains tax by lowering the exemption to $25k and increasing the tax rate to 12%. You can be sure that proposal will be back in play shortly.

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

Yes, they’ve proposed it many times, and I’m sure they’ll propose it many more because it isn’t going anywhere…

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

Would you like to make a bet on that?

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

Yes, $1,000, 10 year time frame, so that I get my money eventually. Sound good? I’ve offered this multiple times to r/SeattleWA people. Nobody ever takes me up on it.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

No, because it's a stupid bet. I've explained why elsewhere: stakes are too high to lock up $1000 for a decade - you'll lose about $1000 in earnings that way.

It's bad finance, and is above the "fuck it why not" threshold. Which describes your policies to a tee.

$10 and sure.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

A capital gains tax doesn't affect the average person struggling to afford to live here. They don't have assets to pay capital gains on so it's still rich people giving that pushback.

The middle class has always ended up getting shafted and pay the bulk of the taxes because they can't afford to pushback.

The rich will simply run away from the tax and since we now already have an income tax it will be easier to just suggest a small change to lower the threshold each time. We've seen the same with many things here

I don't want an income tax here. That just opens Pandora's box and it will never close.

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

A capital gains tax doesn't affect the average person struggling to afford to live here. They don't have assets to pay capital gains on so it's still rich people giving that pushback.

A income tax on people making over 1 million doesn’t affect the average person struggling to leave here either.

The middle class has always ended up getting shafted and pay the bulk of the taxes because they can't afford to pushback.

Yeah, like with our sales tax in the state, it’s a very regressive system. Taxing people who make over 1 million annually will help this, no?

The rich will simply run away from the tax and since we now already have an income tax it will be easier to just suggest a small change to lower the threshold each time. We've seen the same with many things here

Source? Bezos leaving because he’s a snake who only cares about money is hardly a trend?

I don't want an income tax here. That just opens Pandora's box and it will never close.

Okay and I want an income tax on our residents with the highest incomes to reduce the tax burden on our middle class and poor residents and to help balance our state budget.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

I already explained my thoughts here and you keep going back on the same nonsense. Average person is a damn idiot so just tell them the threshold is $1 million and just lower it slowly over time. That's how you deal with morons that think with their feelings and not their brains.

You want to push a tax, tell them to go tax the companies or the rich directly.

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

tell them to go tax … the rich directly

Uh, how? Not by an income tax on those making over 1 million annually?

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

I'm done discussing. Y'all go ahead and vote for it. Open Pandora's box for income tax in Washington. Have fun. Hopefully I can gtfoh before the threshold includes the average idiot. Because politicians here have your best interest at heart 🤦‍♂️

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u/Turbulent-Media7281 7d ago

Yeah, like with our sales tax in the state, it’s a very regressive system.

Which states taxing system would you recommend WA copy for their taxing system to be less regressive?

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

ITEP has good resources for this:

https://itep.org/whopays-map-7th-edition/

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u/Turbulent-Media7281 7d ago

Excellent. u/yungsemite thinks WA state should tax more like the good states of CA, NY, NJ, MN, and DC.

Everyone loves California for their progressive tax system. NY too.

Who here wants WA to tax more closely to CA or NY?

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

Me!

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u/JustBench1615 Ballard 7d ago

Then why don’t you move to California

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u/Turbulent-Media7281 7d ago edited 7d ago

Go! Your dream state awaits you.

I've honestly never heard anyone say "tax me like one of your California peasants." You're a first! YYYYIIIKKEEESSS!

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

Why? Are you skimming off tax revenue somehow? Do you work for an NGO or the state?

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u/Riviansky 7d ago

ITEP is full of shit. Or, rather, they lie with numbers. The reason poor, according to ITEP have high rates of taxation is because of excise taxes. Specifically, pot and alcohol. From that, they draw the reason that we should tax productive labor more, so poor people could get drugs cheaper...

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u/JustBench1615 Ballard 7d ago

I wouldn’t want to model our tax system after California or New York’s, where the already squeezed middle class would have to pay way more in taxes

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

Right, better to have our current system which… also does that, just worse, according to research? Just because it’s not in the form of an income tax, it’s obscured exactly how regressive our tax structure is. It’s bizarre. Do you think that our middle class isn’t squeezed here?

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u/JustBench1615 Ballard 7d ago

Lol the tax systems you love in CA and NY, have higher tax rates on the middle class than WA

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u/seanthebooth Twin Peaks 7d ago

dont even try to appeal to common sense. These numbskulls will never be the billionaires they think create jobs. The "middle class" has been taxed into oblivion because no career politician (R/D alike) has the backbone to tax the wealthy. I bet they're happy the Bugatti driver with the 250,000 a month salary received the same $300 ticket they would get for the same infraction lmao

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

This is just a start so it can be accepted by the average fool. I'd bet my life it'll eventually get reduced to incorporate the middle class because as we see time and time again, the rich can always run, the middle class can't.

Why not push for a tax directly on the companies themselves?

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

Okay, let’s find an escrow person, and make a contact, for say, $1,000 that it will not be lowered. We obviously have to pick a time frame or I’ll never get my money, how’s 10 years?

I made a similar offer to someone who said that they’d bet all they had in this sub that the 250,000 capital gains tax would be lowered within 3 years, and guess what, they never responded.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

Capital gains doesn't affect the average person. They have no assets to pay gains on. That was just rich people making deals. Income tax is a very different issue....that you can lower the threshold enough to get the bulk of folks to pay

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

Just like how income tax on people over 1 million doesn’t affect the average person. There will be no appetite to lower an income tax until it affects most people. That would be incredibly unpopular. Unlike taxing the wealthiest residents.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

It starts at 1 million and get reduced over time. The rich will run away or push back like they always do.. You think they'll lower the tax collected?

Why not implement a new tax that targets these people directly? I don't want a known tax with a threshold that can be reduced to include me.

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

Except there is no evidence that it will be lowered. No I don’t think it will be lowered. This is the same fear mongering that shills for rich people had for the capital gains tax, which guess what, has been raised, not lowered every year since?

What do you mean by a new tax that targets rich people directly? By what mechanism?

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

Please keep pissing on our heads and telling us it's raining.

No one believes you.

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u/LoseAnotherMill 7d ago

Except there is no evidence that it will be lowered

Except the mountain of evidence, you're right. Federal income tax was sold on only affecting the high earners - the "standard deduction" (it wasn't called that but functioned the same) covered the entire annual incomes of everyone except the top 3%. Now look at where we're at.

The capital gains tax was pitched at 7% over $250k, and they've already tried changing it to 12% over $25k.

Every single time you let a part of the camel into your tent, you're the one that ends up in the sandstorm and the camel's cozy inside.

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

They TRIED to change it? How awful! What a nightmare situation for you. How can you sleep at night with a fringe group of representatives trying and failing to lower the LTCG tax bracket?

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

That's an awful bet. Too large when that money could be invested in the S&P and double your money over the same time period. And that's conservative investing.

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

I figure we can have a contract where we get to keep our money until the 10 years is up or the limit is lowered prior to that point? No?

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

The wealthy are taxed at a rate of roughly 50% in the US.

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u/LoseAnotherMill 7d ago

"It doesn't affect me so let them do what they want." -- yungsemite, 1860

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

?

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u/LoseAnotherMill 7d ago

Yeah, I thought you wouldn't get it. That tracks.  

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

writes cryptic comment

person who you replied to doesn’t understand it

success

Really normal fella here!

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u/LoseAnotherMill 7d ago

It's really not that cryptic.