Washington state approves capital gains tax • Hacker News Board

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#61

Post by xxpor » Fri, Apr 30, 2021, 5:29 PM UTC

swsieber wrote: post #30

zacharycohn wrote: post #19

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…

> especially if it's earmarked for childhood education. If it's earmarked for childhood education then don't be surprised if other childhood education funds are reallocated elsewhere.

They won't be in WA. They've been underfunding education for years and are under a state Supreme Court mandate to increase funding. I'm not 100% sure that's still in effect but my property taxes nearly doubled 2017->2018.

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#62

Post by enahs-sf » Fri, Apr 30, 2021, 5:30 PM UTC

endisneigh wrote: post #54

karl11 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. But really there should not be capital gains tax as it is double taxation - you have already paid income tax on the same dollar.

I don’t think you understand how capital gains work... If you invest a dollar today and get ten dollars tomorrow you’ve gained 9 dollars. When were you taxed for that?

I think his point was the initial dollar you invested was at some point subject to income tax to get it.

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#63

Post by xxpor » Fri, Apr 30, 2021, 5:31 PM UTC

giantg2 wrote: post #22

verst wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"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.

Income taxes are not unconstitutional. Progressive income taxes are. No one wants to impose a flat income tax though.

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#64

Post by spaetzleesser » Fri, Apr 30, 2021, 5:31 PM UTC

sickygnar wrote: post #13

Why is real estate always exempt from this stuff? Is there a good reason or is the special interest just large?

I have the same question. For middle class we should exempt a certain amount of money from any investment and treat all capital gains the same. The real estate exemption just creates huge inflation in real estate prices.

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#65

Post by aatharuv » Fri, Apr 30, 2021, 5:31 PM UTC

verst wrote: post #16

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #3

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.

The Alternate Minimum Tax was only supposed to affect less than 100 millionaires in the 1960's who were paying no taxes. Now, it is impacting 20+% of California tax payers most of whom earn under a million dollars a year and many of whom are not millionaires.

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#66

Post by tclancy » Fri, Apr 30, 2021, 5:32 PM UTC

monkeynotes wrote: post #10

politician wrote: post #4

> 7% capital gains tax It makes sense to start the out-migration now ahead of the Cascadia Megathrust Earthquake that's overdue to destroy the region and make millions homeless.

> overdue The margins of 'overdue' are hundreds of years.

Remind me to go to the library!

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#67

Post by bigbillheck » Fri, Apr 30, 2021, 5:32 PM UTC

karl11 wrote: post #50

leephillips wrote: post #46

I recently came across this comment by Philip Greenspun: “if you bought an asset for $10,000 in 2000, for example, the BLS says you spent $15,700 in today’s mini-dollars; if you sell it for $15,000 in 2021 you’ve actually suffered a loss, but will owe capital gains tax nonetheless” ( https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2021/04/29/economic-wisdom... ). I’m not a finance person, and this had never occurred to me. Does he…

Absolutely. But really there should not be capital gains tax as it is double taxation - you have already paid income tax on the same dollar.

Please read up on the difference between 'profit' and 'revenue'.

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#68

Post by xxpor » Fri, Apr 30, 2021, 5:33 PM UTC

egberts1 wrote: post #8

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 have any inkling the gas tax is going somewhere it isn't supposed to you're free to file a PDR.

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#69

Post by hourislate » Fri, Apr 30, 2021, 5:33 PM UTC

pupdogg wrote: post #48

hourislate wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If someone sells half a million dollars worth of stock, it seems very fair the state gets some cut of that Yes very fair, after all the state took all that risk on those stocks and deserves something too. And to think that business you built should be all yours and not theirs also. Like Warren said you are only successful because of the rest of us...... “You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be…

Thank you for giving me hope that common sense still exists!

[flagged]

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#70

Post by sokoloff » Fri, Apr 30, 2021, 5:34 PM UTC

bpodgursky wrote: post #24

bestcoder69 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they’re promoting productive investments in real estate, while punishing people for rent seeking off of companies just because they fronted the capital.

You know that most real estate investing is like... buying land and extracting literal rent, right? This is a bizarre take.

Though they do literally seek rent from their tenants, landlords who provide housing (or commercial real-estate) are not rent-seeking in the economic sense of that phrase, which is to seek to improve your economic position without creating any benefits for others. Providing housing or office space is clearly creating benefit for others.