Creating tax fairness

Republicans in the state legislature oppose new taxes.

Always have, always will.

In his column in last week’s Weekly News, Senator Ron Muzzall follows the party line.

He opposes SB5096, recently passed by the state senate by a 25-24 margin, calling it an underhanded attempt to institute a state income tax.

He is wrong.

This bill is about tax fairness.

It would impose a 7% tax on capital gains over $250,000 a year.

It will affect only about eight thousand of the state’s almost eight million residents, and it would raise, according to estimates, about 550 million dollars a year.

Most importantly, it would help shift the tax burden from the poorest Washington residents to the most affluent.

The senator says, “we can make the tax system fairer,” but cannot bring himself to support a bill which would do just that.

The senator opposes a capital gains tax and a state income tax, but offers no new ideas on how to bring about fairness in the state’s tax laws. He does mention the existence of yet another “tax reform committee” in the legislature, the latest of many, but we have passed the point where empty, endless talk of tax reform and fairness can substitute for action.

The senator also dismisses a recent study of Washington’s regressive tax system as “suspect,” a reference to a 2018 report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy proving that Washington’s tax policies are the most regressive in the nation. According to the study, the poorest 20% of Washington residents pay 13.3% of their incomes in sales and excise taxes, the top 1% only 1.3%. The lowest earning folks even pay a bigger percentage of their income in property taxes. If this study is “a bit suspect,” Senator Muzzall should refute its conclusions point by point. On this important issue, conspiracy theories and innuendo are no substitutes for facts.

At long last, it is time for the senator and others in his party to stop giving lip service to tax reform and either lead, follow or get out of the way of those willing to bring it about.

Tony Harrah

Greater La Conner