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Why is real estate always exempt from this stuff? Is there a good reason or is the special interest just large?
Pessimistic answer: it’s for developers and landlords
Details are sparse in this article. Looks like 7% capital gains tax, first $250K excluded, real estate excluded. Proceeds to primarily fund childhood education (for now). > For example, stock sales higher than $250,000 would be taxed at 7%. Real estate would not be. 7% (on top of federal cap gains, which are also increasing) is a significant tax rate to start with. If it was 1-2%, I could see people rolling with it.…
The first 250k in profits from capital gains are exempt. It is estimated that this tax only affects the 7000 richest individuals in Washington. Keep in mind we don't have any income taxes here.
That's not really what the supporters of this bill think. They claim an excise type tax already exists and that it provides precedent for this one since income taxes are unconstitutional.
Proceeds to fund child education. Like the state gas tax, you still won’t get itemization of its breakdown to ensure that it is really where it is going to go. So, color me surprise.
If you are against the bill - you are against child education. It's that easy. And stop asking questions.
Ah, so this bill will tax gains from productive activities like investing in and building companies, while exempting gains from rent seeking activities like real estate. Why am I not surprised?
Maybe they’re promoting productive investments in real estate, while punishing people for rent seeking off of companies just because they fronted the capital.
This is a bizarre take.
Why is real estate always exempt from this stuff? Is there a good reason or is the special interest just large?
Also stock sales are more easily "structured" to avoid this tax (sell half this year, half next year) whereas a house has to be sold as a "whole".
Why is real estate always exempt from this stuff? Is there a good reason or is the special interest just large?
Non-pessimistic answer: it’s largely the only place the middle class parks its wealth. Besides that it would be stuff like 401k and Roth IRA which would also be exempt already. Pessimistic answer: it’s for developers and landlords
Why is real estate always exempt from this stuff? Is there a good reason or is the special interest just large?
As a Washington resident, I think this is great. WA has one of the most regressive tax systems in the country, and this is a move in the right direction. It's crafted to have a very narrow impact. It is capital gains, but essentially only for stock sales, and only for stocks sales over a quarter million dollars. If someone sells half a million dollars worth of stock, it seems very fair the state gets some cut of that…
If it's earmarked for childhood education then don't be surprised if other childhood education funds are reallocated elsewhere.