The House Finance Committee held a work session yesterday on the state’s tax structure and recommendations for reform. I had the opportunity to be on a panel with Andy Nicholas from the Washington State Budget & Policy Center. The Committee was very generous with its time providing us an hour to make our pitches for changes to the state’s tax system.

As exciting as structural tax reform is, I’ve broken my presentation into segments if you don’t have time to watch the whole work session.

• Tax principles and volatility
   
• Reforming the “temporary B&O tax” and providing a sales tax cut
   
• There is no debate – a capital gains tax is an income tax
   
• Tax transparency website and Q&A

A quick note on some of these recommendations, bills have been introduced this session to cut the state's sales tax rate (SB 5610) and create a tax transparency website (SB 5631). We'll have more to say on these proposals and other tax related bills soon. 

Here is a copy of my complete presentation and handouts:

• WPC House Finance tax structure presentation 
• Replacing the Business and Occupation Tax with a Single Business Tax
• IRS letter to Rep. Newhouse on capital gains income taxes
• State Revenue Departments Describe Capital Gains Income Taxes
• Which states don’t have a capital gains income tax?
• Is capital gains income a stable and sustainable tax source?
• Tax Foundation: Sorry, Washington State: Capital Gains Taxes are Still Income Taxes—But There’s a Better Way
• Washington Research Council: Getting the Tax Structure Right - It’s Complicated