Longtime readers, both here on HA and on Slog, know that I’m kinda obsessed with fixing Washington’s absurdly regressive and unsustainable state and local tax structure. Yet more than a decade of kvetching, cursing, and exhaustively explaining why our 1930s-era kludge of a tax system can’t possibly meet the needs of our 21st century economy has sparked little serious debate amongst our state’s politicians and pundits. It’s the blogging equivalent of pissing into the wind.
And so it is at least a little bit encouraging to see state Representative Reuven Carlyle (D-Seattle) use his position as chair of the House Finance Committee to publicly advance the issue:
All of these dense policy issues fail to capture the human impact of morally bankrupt tax system. By any standard our tax system has become the most unfair to the middle class and low income in the nation. According to the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy, the lowest 20% of income earners in Washington–making an average income of $11,500 per year–pay 16.9% of their income in state and local taxes. The national average for this group is 11.1%. The top end–the proverbial one percent earning average income of $1.1 million per year–pay 2.8% of their income in combined taxes in Washington, dramatically less than the 5.6% national average.
We can no longer continue down the same path of tinkering with a broken, unfair and economically inefficient tax system that is divorced from our economy and fails to serve our communities. The 20-year trend shows absolutely no signs of relenting. In a handful of years we are likely to be 40th in the nation in the combined level of state and local taxes based on personal income. And a few years beyond that we can expect to reach 45th. Is that our vision for ourselves? Are we so caustically anti-tax that we would close the doors of our colleges to our own children? Would we close foster homes for our most vulnerable? Would we allow traffic to suffocate our industrial economy and our quality of life?
Again, nothing in Rep. Carlyle’s blog post will come as a surprise to my regular readers—I’ve been writing about this stuff for years. But I hope that the fact that it’s coming from the House Finance chair will lend the issue the gravitas that a dirty, foul-mouthed, blogger like me could never give it.
Memo to Republicans: If you want to live in the Mississippi of the Pacific Northwest, fine, leave things as they are. Washington residents gave themselves a huge tax cut when they stopped spending during the recession, yet somehow think they’re overtaxed. Go ahead, keep telling them that schools, prisons, and roads are FREE. That’s what they believe (as when they passed yet another school class size initiative without any funding to pay for it), thanks to you, which explains why we can’t get rational tax reform in this state. Do you guys on the GOP side of the aisle really want to shut down state government? Go ahead, I’m retired and don’t need schools or roads, I can hop to where I want to go. It’s local businesses that will collapse when our state economy goes under; I can keep buying stuff tax-free on the internet. I’ll do fine when Budget Armageddon hits this state.
The local democrats scream for higher regressive taxes — and the democrats in Olympia hand those out like candy.
Sound Transit wants much higher sales taxes and car tab taxes now, to make our worst-in-the-nation tax structure worse.
Any of you democrats want to try estimating the tax cost of Sound Transit’s megaproject financing plan, the one voters were not told about? Go for it. It’s your party’s crowning achievement PRECISELY BECAUSE it hits the households with the least the hardest. That’s what the party bosses want; helping the rich get richer is how they get the tech multi-millionaires and rich corporations here to back their reelection bids.
Judy Clibborn’s guest editorial in the Times today calls for authorizing Sound Transit’s unaccountable board to impose even higher sales taxes and car tab taxes.
Nasty bitch she is. All she’d need to do is emulate the peers’ best practices, instead it’s tax lower-middle class households even more heavily for transit.
Washington relies upon sales and property taxes because any discussion of an income tax is political suicide. Mike Lowry tried to bring up the topic, not propose it, just discuss it, and his own staff told him to shut up.
Wallace’s conspiracy theory about Democrats wanting regressive taxes is just silly. Democrats are simply taking the path of least resistance, having given up on tax reform. Kudos to Carlyle for having the courage to raise the issue.
Party bosses? With top hats and big cigars? Evil laughs?
@2 Yes, because when Republicans who fight tooth and claw against fair taxes leave Democrats (it’s spelled with a capital “D,” asshole) a choice between (a) no public services, or (b) funding public services with regressive taxes, they choose the lesser evil. But make no mistake about where responsibility for regressive taxes lies: With those who won’t allow this state to fund its needs with less regressive taxes. In other words, Republicans.
@4 “Wallace’s conspiracy theory about Democrats wanting regressive taxes is just silly.”
I disagree; it’s not silly, it’s malicious.
Mr. Rabbit: I agree with you but find that light mockery is often more infuriating to wing nuts than outright insult.
Most states basic tax structure hasn’t changed since the 1930’s as that was the last time the economic conditions were so bad that states had to be innovative and come up with new ways to raise money and not have people show up at the capital building with pitch forks. With the improved economy it’s now less likely that reform is going to happen on the income side. Over the past 20 years the Federal Governments payments to states have gone down while making states more responsible for paying a larger share of (for example) highway funds.
I know the state could hire some more people at the enforcement office of the Department of Revenue to go after unpaid taxes.
The price we all pay for tough on crime policies is high, particularly for the war on drugs stuff. So maybe we can’t afford to keep a high percent of citizens in prison or jail and also pay for education of our children.
No citizens of Washington state would go to Oregon to buy a car to avoid paying taxes in Washington. Though there is no practical way to enforce this. Some US Constitutional clause about interstate trade.
It’s really hard to get the rich to spend more money. They are after all looking to turn some of that income into rents. While possible at a certain point it’s hard to spend all ones income when it’s at a certain level. Just how many cars, boats, or houses can one person need or want. There is some kind of diminishing return at work here. This is also one reason the rich become richer and are sometimes forced to spend some money on things such as art work to combat inflation. Maybe the politicians should call these folks and ask for donations to go to Washington general fun. These calls should be recorded. Maybe they should be required to make these calls to folks earning over a certain amount regardless of their own need to raise funds for their next election. I’d bet that support in the legislature for a progressive income tax would go up whether or not the general fund got any donations.
Eventually Washington state is going to have an income tax, but it’s only going to happen out of utter crises and desperation where literally the state is bankrupt. Wouldn’t those Republicans be really upset if the bankruptcy judge decided the state had to institute a income tax to pay for stuff rather than steal the money from state retirees, close schools, ect.
Yes, an income tax. Yes, a graduated income tax. Yes, lower the state and local taxes paid by the lowest quintile in our state; our system is cruel; and they pay like 7% of their income more than the comparable quintile in progressive havens like…..Idaho.
Idaho beats us on social justice this way.
why don’t we have an income tax?
Democrats don’t have the gumption to propose it, message it, explain it, keep at it, keep at it, keep at it, again and again and again year in and year out. you know, the way conservatives fought for their vision from oh, 1964, the nadir under goldwater, to 1981 and reagan? almost twenty years?
they keep at it. they boil it down. they get a simple message, tell stories about it and repeat. Dems just fail at this most basic task in politics. and worse — they continually enact the regressive taxes that turn off the working class utterly, that prove they don’t care about the poor, and that make government a yuppie plaything that is hostile to working class and poor people. utterly hostile. try telling some retired family barely hanging on to their paid off home just barely paying property taxes that they license fee on their 15 year old cars is going up because “it’s for your own good, take the bus!” try telling that to some 22 year old living in a $799 a month apartmet out in bothell who needs that car to get to the two jobs at two different fast food joints. the jobs she can’t get to by bus after going to BCC from noon to 5 pm. Democratic leaders don’t even put on the ballot a higher min wage statewide or do other things showing they care. all they do is sometimes write think pieces on blogs, or when they get around to proposing an income tax they choose a messenger like mr. gates who is the worst kind possible to connect with voters: a 1 % er. Reuvyn is like that too. He. Is. Rich. He needs to boil it down to how much money will you save, you making $11K or $24K a year and barely hanging on. get down from the stratosphere, write it, propose it, file the initiative, do it and keep at it. He can pass it in the 36th, but can he talk to folks in puyallup and sunnyside to get it passed? you don’t reach them by quoting statistics from institutes nor saying “our system is not modern, it’s divorced from reality”! you reach them by telling them first what they pay now and second wha they will save under income tax. “you will save $700 a year.” you making $65K will save $200 a year. that’s the message, pass this bill to put more money in your pocket. not “pass this to create a more modern tax system that institutes will like!” not “this will be more moral.” say “this gives you more money” not “this makes our system more moral, we will be more moral” people aren’t paying the rent with morality.
@8 If you buy a car in Oregon, you’ll have to pay Washington use tax to get Washington tags. Oregon plates on your car? Washington cracked down on that years ago — and your resentful neighbors will turn you in (they have to pay Washington taxes, so why shouldn’t you?).
@9 Yes, that’s what it’ll take to sell in income tax; and yes, until now, Democrats have been both spineless and ineffective at doing so. One of the biggest disappointments of Governor Gregoire’s performance in office was her willingness to let public services go down the tubes in order to avoid tackling tax reform.
@10 agreed but have a quibble. we’re not selling tax reform, which is graduate school words that mean absolutely NOTHING to the guy pumping gas at Arco in Chehalis.
We’re selling “putting another $700 in your pocket.” us intellectuals and college grads simply see it as tax reform, more morality or less regressivity all these high falutin’ words. the average jane needs MONEY. as in MORE OF IT. as in, that’s what we are selling. MORE MONEY FOR YOU. or you could call it LOWER TAXES.
hard to mouth those words isn’t it? but that’s the core of the justice we’re about. lower taxes, for 80% of all people. less tax, more service. call it tax reform and they go uh oh, probably my taxes will go up.