Truth, Justice, and All-American Allergen-Free Apple Pie

Washington State’s Initiative 1098, if passed by the voters, will impose a state income tax on the wealthy.

No. No no no no. This is not a good idea.

First, just because you have more money than the average Washington resident doesn’t automatically mean that you gained it unfairly or by taking advantage of other people. The mentality that the rich need to be penalized for having more money than others could be considered jealous and greedy. Like Mark Twain said, the world doesn’t owe you a living. It was here first.

Second, wealthy people are often those who are providing jobs for other people. Certain businesses have been attracted to Washington State because we don’t have a state income tax. Adding such a tax in this economic climate could limit employers’ ability and/or willingness to create jobs. They might even take their business elsewhere– and one thing we don’t need is for more jobs to go out of state or overseas.

Third, as long as programs like “1% for the Arts” exist when hard-working people are losing their livelihoods and homes, don’t ask for new taxes. As long as taxpayers are providing benefits to able-bodied adults who’ve never contributed to the system, don’t ask for more. As long as my generation has little hope to ever see benefits we’ve earned like Social Security, no.

I am continually dismayed that I have yet to solve the poverty and (necessary) debt issues in my own circles because I am taxed so heavily to provide for policies, programs, and people that shouldn’t be taxpayer-funded. Right now we need to be asking ourselves, “is that really the government’s job to do that?”

Fourth, does anyone actually believe that this tax will be permanently limited to the “rich”? Voting this initiative into being is opening a financial Pandora’s Box. Unlike what Bill Gates Sr. claims, the legislature actually can, in just two years, extend the scope of this tax.

I have no doubt that this tax would soon extend to the struggling middle class and push the poor even further into desperation. Further burdening the people of this state with taxes will only continue to increase the divide between rich and poor– in part because many more people will become poor.

Fifth, some of the people who are being taxed will just find creative ways to avoid the tax. Please don’t be fooled into thinking that the taxable wealth around today is guaranteed to exist in the same form– or on the same continent– tomorrow.

New taxes are not the answer, especially not this one. The people of Washington should be focused on what services the government should and shouldn’t be providing, and how wisely that money is being spent, not how we can maintain and inevitably increase spending for causes that maybe shouldn’t be a priority at such a critical economic time.

For an interesting read on why states do and don’t have income taxes, check out this article from Governing magazine:

The Politics Behind Not Levying Personal Income Taxes.

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We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate. -Thomas Jefferson

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