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Washington state approves capital gains tax

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211–220 of 292 posts

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has changed a lot with antifa having free reign for the last year. Lots of businesses boarded up and leaving. Even the Apple store was just set on fire again .

Part-time Portlander here! You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Please stop basing your worldview on Infowars talking points.

Our eyes can see videos on Twitter. Go show us a picture of the Apple store operating normally then.

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#212
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These taxes always start off only affecting the richest of the rich, until the government decides it needs more revenue.

What if I told you that as an ordinary engineer I am perfectly OK with paying state income taxes and capital gains taxes here in Seattle? Why? For the benefit of all. I am not wealthy by any means given local expenses but I live comfortably. As someone who is better off than the majority of people (as are most of us on HN when compared to the people around us wherever it is we live) I feel it is important to invest i…

Then gift the government money directly, and leave others to make their own decisions instead of imposing what you feel is right on them?

Here is the official process "Gifts to the U.S. Government": https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/public/gifts-to-government.h...

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that the same way it works for buying stocks? I don't live in the US, but if I buy stocks for 100$, then sell them five years later for 150$, I have to pay a percentage of the winnings (so a % of 50$). This means that if inflation was more than what's left over after the taxes are removed then I would effectively "lose" money.

Let's be clear though, if your stock grows as little as that such that after paying capital gains on profits and adding inflation into the equation would leave you on the negative or even, then it's a pretty bad performing stock.

Why? What if I buy stocks with the intention of preservinpreserving wealth rather than growing my net worth? In such a case I am just trying to keep up with inflation with as little risk as possible, but the tax policies in place are forcing me to take on more risk. I can't just take a stake in a basket of goods and call it a day. I have to beat the risk free market substantially.

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#214

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…

If you had 10k in 2000 then didn't invest, in 2021, you'd lose even more money due to inflation than if you invested. Because cash obviously doesn't grow with inflation. You're only option to "get ahead" is to pick a better stock :)

Also there is always the standard deduction, and I think at the federal level there is even 30k on top of that you can take in LTCG without any taxes. So not a luxurious lifestyle, but certainly enough to survive.

I don't think WA is doing that though. They probably have a much lower threshold when the capital gains tax sets in.

Edit: just read a bit closer and WA is exempting the first 250k in gains per year. So they are offering an even better deal than the feds.

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is sort of an unreal conversation to be having. If you buy a house to speculate on housing prices, and then rent it out, _you aren't adding anything_. That's entire point of the phrase "rent seeking". You've dumped capital into a limited-quantity good and then extract rent as it becomes more valuable. The only exception is those actually expanding the housing supply (which is hugely valuable and should be reward…

Insane that you've been downvoted for this. Land value capture is literally THE example of economic rent. Adam Smith identified it in a little book called Wealth of Nations...

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#217

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.…

> At a whopping 7%, I expect a lot of startup founders and small business owners looking for an exit will be moving across the border to Portland right before they sell their companies.

Why? Oregon has income tax of 9-10% on all income over $9k/year.

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#219

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

In the specific case of Washington, they have an excise tax on the sale of real estate up to (IIRC) 3% of property value, which is substantial. Taxing the gain and the sale would put quite a significant tax burden on people moving house, particularly in very expensive markets like Seattle where most home sales will be subject to capital gains.

Re: Washington state approves capital gains tax

#220
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on your state, but I guarantee the information is available to you. You can ask your state representative for more information if you're curious. Here's the 2020 financial report for WA's lottery: https://walottery.com/About/assets/docs/20AnnualReport.pdf Page 31 is probably what you're looking for. The majority of payments ($141 million) went to the Washington Opportunity Pathways Account, relevant statute h…

The concern is usually that (made up numbers) school is budgeted at 100M/yr from the general fund. Then they get a lottery that provides 30M/yr, and 100% goes to the schools. Now the schools have 130M/yr right? But the worry is instead they reduce the funds from the general budget to 70M. The lottery money all went to the schools, but the extra 30M went to the general fund.

Yeah, money is fungible. Earmarking for a specific cause X just means less of X's funding comes from the general fund.
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