WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate
seattletimes.com
WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate
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Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate
#2I think I don't like income tax as it disincentivizes labor and also makes it harder for working people to build up wealth. Making a million a year sounds like a lot, but who knows how long someone might be making that kind of money? Meanwhile already wealthy people are mostly untouched. Would rather see majority of taxes come from corporate taxes and capital gains.
Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate
#3I don't understand how anyone in good conscience can vote against this tax. As a reminder, this tax does not affect income under a million US dollars. From the article, if you earn a dollar over a million dollars, you owe 9.9% so you need to pay a dime in income tax.
Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate
#4In principle it sounds like a reasonable idea but the obvious problem is that people can become domiciled elsewhere, or structure their income to avoid this. It would be interesting to know what's been planned to mitigate that.
Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate
#5I think I don't like income tax as it disincentivizes labor and also makes it harder for working people to build up wealth. Making a million a year sounds like a lot, but who knows how long someone might be making that kind of money? Meanwhile already wealthy people are mostly untouched. Would rather see majority of taxes come from corporate taxes and capital gains.
How do you deal with a corporation just moving their HQ to another state though? It is hard because you cannot just say oh we should only have a federal income tax because then states would just rely on the federal government for funding. At the same time the wealthy people/corporations can easily move to another state leaving the middle class to make up for lost revenue.
Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate
#6When I was a new grad moving to the US and deciding where to live and work, the biggest draw of Seattle was its lack of income tax. Of course this particular $1 million threshold wouldn't apply to me until I'm very late in my career, or have a lucky year, or get married to a high-income person (the $1 million threshold applies to married couples, not just individuals) but Seattle loses a lot of its appeal if it's not financially advantageous. Of the other tech hubs, SF beats Seattle on weather and jobs and New York beats it on urban lifestyle. Or if you want to avoid income taxes, why not go to Florida or Texas.
I wonder if introducing income taxes will impact Seattle's tech hub status going forward. Sometimes people talk about how much these measures will lead to rich people moving away, but discouraging high-income people from moving there I think is a bigger long-term impact.
Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate
#7I don't understand how anyone in good conscience can vote against this tax. As a reminder, this tax does not affect income under a million US dollars. From the article, if you earn a dollar over a million dollars, you owe 9.9% so you need to pay a dime in income tax.
I think you can in good conscious be opposed to new taxes. This tax is being introduced in a way that only affects the most privileged portion of the population but that's how the Federal income tax was introduced many years ago too. People who oppose the tax are looking forward to a future where the tax burden in Washington might be as oppressive as it is in California or New York.
Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate
#8And the timing is very interesting of the CEO of Starbucks moving out of Washington.
Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate
#9I think I don't like income tax as it disincentivizes labor and also makes it harder for working people to build up wealth. Making a million a year sounds like a lot, but who knows how long someone might be making that kind of money? Meanwhile already wealthy people are mostly untouched. Would rather see majority of taxes come from corporate taxes and capital gains.
How do you deal with a corporation just moving their HQ to another state though? It is hard because you cannot just say oh we should only have a federal income tax because then states would just rely on the federal government for funding. At the same time the wealthy people/corporations can easily move to another state leaving the middle class to make up for lost revenue.
You just... deal? You think about it then make a law in a way or another, instead of this decision paralysis. I also assume all states will think about it (rather sooner than later) so it's all a matter of concern and will - if there's one, because in a world ruled by corporations and billionaires, if it's all left to them, the only ones paying for roads, military or community services will be you, me and our likes (I assumed there aren't many billionaires on HN and also won't be any time soon). The tax breaks trend seems to only increase, right?
Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate
#10When I was a new grad moving to the US and deciding where to live and work, the biggest draw of Seattle was its lack of income tax. Of course this particular $1 million threshold wouldn't apply to me until I'm very late in my career, or have a lucky year, or get married to a high-income person (the $1 million threshold applies to married couples, not just individuals) but Seattle loses a lot of its appeal if it's not…
The assumption of course being that high-income people moving in is good for everyone.