WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate • Hacker News Board

Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate

#11

Post by lvspiff » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 2:29 PM UTC

Living in Portland I meet SOOOO many tech people that live across the river in Vancouver just because of the income tax - WA has none - OR has a healthily number of them (5 lines worth of various taxes show up on my paystub).

Bigger impact im sure will be Seattle but the impact to Portland is not insignificant. I'm sure the WA tax would be less than the OR one though so I don't see the moves stopping, but probably akin to whats happened in CA where people moved to NV or AZ to escape some of the taxes (not a significant number but ive met enough to wonder). As people retire, they moved away to those places as they think they will be taxed less

Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate

#12

Post by drdec » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 2:29 PM UTC

collabs wrote: post #3

I 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.

The first set of US federal tax rates when it was allowed by the 16th amendment with adjustments for inflation on the the right:

  Orig Income          Rate       Adj Income (2025 Dollars)
  Up to $20,000        1%         Up to $600,000
  $20,000 to $50,000   2%         $600,000 to $1,500,000
  $50,000 to $75,000   3%         $1,500,000 to $2,250,000
  $75,000 to $100,000  4%         $2,250,000 to $3,000,000
  Over $100,000        5%         Over $3,000,000

The point being that once you allow the tax, it has a tendency to become more and more. It's much easier to raise income tax than establish it.

I don't have a dog in this fight and if it's what the people of Washington want, so be it.

(edited for formatting

Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate

#13

Post by orionsbelt » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC

collabs wrote: post #3

I 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.

It’s a beachhead that will expand. The history of income taxes shows that. Once you have established an income tax, the next fight will be to raise it, or lower the income limit, and over years, it will end up covering everyone. The government is incentivized to over spend and then try to dig their way out be expanding taxes, but there is a limit to what you can tax.

You want people to vote for a millionaire tax tie it with a constitutional amendment that requires a higher vote bar to ever increase it and have all numbers automatically inflation adjusted

Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate

#14

Post by NDizzle » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC

collabs wrote: post #3

I 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.

[flagged]

Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate

#15

Post by ambicapter » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC

changoplatanero wrote: post #7

collabs wrote: post #3

I 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.

States with massive, growing populations? Must not be as oppressive as stated.

Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate

#16

Post by 46493168 » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 2:31 PM UTC

seiferteric wrote: post #2

I 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.

> but who knows how long someone might be making that kind of money?

Would you mind saying a little bit more about your thinking here? A million a year doesn’t just sound like a lot, it is a lot. FRED reports the median income in Washington at just shy of $100,000 [0]. We’re talking about households that make 10x the median.

Also, what does it matter the length of time they earn it? If they don’t earn more than $1m, they don’t pay it, right?

[0] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSWAA646N

Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate

#17

Post by Jemaclus » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 2:31 PM UTC

Neil44 wrote: post #4

In 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.

how can i structure my income to avoid income tax? asking for a friend.

Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate

#18

Post by hectdev » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 2:31 PM UTC

garbawarb wrote: post #6

When 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…

I live in Texas. People move here and are flabbergasted by our property taxes.

Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate

#19

Post by kimbernator » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 2:33 PM UTC

I grew up in WA and as much as I enjoyed the lack of income tax, it's factual that until recently they held the title of #1 most regressive state tax system nationwide (recently bumped to #2 by FL). Income taxes are much better distributed among income brackets than consumption taxes are. I grew up just over the river from Portland, where there is no state sales tax; we got to enjoy the best of both worlds by crossing the state line to OR for large purchases and living in WA.

Ironically, my home for the last decade (MO) has recently moved forward with a bill eliminating the statewide income tax in favor of a higher sales tax. This is in a state where the two largest cities are situated on the borders of other states, so it's essentially a guarantee that this will backfire.

Re: WA income tax clears House after 24-hour debate

#20

Post by SecretDreams » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 2:33 PM UTC

garbawarb wrote: post #6

When 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 tax would apply only on the amount of income above the $1 million threshold, so a person making $1.5 million, for example, would be taxed on the final $500,000. It would apply to an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 households in the state, with collections beginning in 2029 on the previous year’s income.

It's a sliding scale tax. Someone making a million will barely feel it. Someone making 50 million will feel it a lot. Objectively, anyone making $50 million should feel it a lot and be taxed heavily. Nobody is making $50 million under their own power.

I know numbers are hard for the ultra rich. I've mostly only posted this for all the poor souls only making a mil a year. I want them to know this won't impact them.