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Yesterday the WA Tax Structure Work Group received an update from its consultant on the community meetings and outreach that occurred earlier this year. From the consultant’s report:
- "... overall participants had more concerns than support for a wealth tax. Participants expressed concerns that a wealth tax would not be a stable tax base given how easily billionaires can leave the state."
- "Most participants did not express support for a VAT and employer compensation tax combination...They also expressed concerns that the employer compensation tax might hinder economic growth."
- "Participants expressed support for a margins tax..." (Note: This is a WPC recommendation).
- "There were more comments expressing concerns about a flat personal income tax and corporate income tax than comments in support." (WA voters have consistently rejected income taxes)
- "There were more comments expressing concerns about a progressive personal income tax and progressive corporate income tax than comments in support of these taxes." (WA voters have consistently rejected income taxes)
- "Participants expressed concerns about property taxes continuing to increase over time."
With this community response to the Tax Structure process, hopefully we can finally move on from efforts to impose an income tax and instead start to focus on providing sales/property tax relief with the nearly $8 billion increase in state revenue (over four-years) since the budget was adopted.
Additional Information
Is Washington State capable of providing broad-based tax relief?