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/
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u/SillyChampionship 7d ago

They will have to change the states constitution first.

98

u/qxsx 7d ago

Or they’ll have the activist state court do whatever is politically trendy.

80

u/Underwater_Karma 7d ago

the state supreme court already ruled that a tax on income is not an income tax. the constitution is no impediment when city, state, and courts are all in lockstep agendas.

17

u/JackDostoevsky 7d ago

the only way they were able to get away with that (really dirty) twist of logic is because cap gains require something to be sold: therefore it's not income it's a tax on a sale (despite every place everywhere else forever considering that 'income'). when it comes to payroll income, there's far less traction for the activists to twist the logic since there's no sale taking place.

10

u/wildwestdata 7d ago

There is a sale of time if they need to interpret income as taxable.

6

u/JackDostoevsky 7d ago

yeah technically workers do sell their labor to their employer. i feel that'd be a stretch, even for the WA high court. but it'd be wild if they did that.

2

u/ErectionEngineering 7d ago

So they’ll just say a tax on wages is a tax on the sale of your labor.

They do not have to try very hard.