Misha Werschkul, executive director of the nonprofit Washington State Budget & Policy Center, said measures like the capital gains tax and the Working Families Tax Credit aren’t intended to punish the wealthy, but rather to relieve the burden on low-income Washingtonians. For example, a new bill under consideration would lower the state’s real estate excise tax rate for less expensive property sales and add a surcharge for transactions over about $3 million to fund more affordable housing.
“There are continued efforts to make Washington’s tax code more equitable,” Werschkul said, dismissing allegations that an income tax will be next.
Asked last year if an income tax was under consideration, outgoing Democratic Governor Jay Inslee said “no.”
“It’s a pretty simple one-word answer,” Inslee said. “The Republicans just delight in this bogeyman.”
One of Heywood’s ballot measures would expressly prohibit any jurisdiction in the state from levying an income tax, though opponents say that it’s so vaguely worded it could threaten other long-standing taxes in the state.
The other three initiatives supported by Heywood’s PAC, called Let’s Go Washington, include removing restrictions on police pursuits, allowing employers to opt out of long-term care insurance and giving parents more rights regarding their children’s health and education. All six measures are likely to appear on November’s ballot.
Heywood, whose Taiyo fund in 2022 partnered with the family office of Nintendo Co.’s founders, said 40 employees moved with him from Monterey, California, to the Seattle area in 2010. Because many of them are Japanese, and the fund invests heavily in Japanese companies, they needed to be close to a major airport, preferably on the West Coast. The first time he flew into Seattle, he said it was “just mind-blowingly beautiful.”
Would he move again and leave all that because of changes to the tax code?
“We’ll see,” Heywood said, referring to his efforts to repeal the tax. “I’m doing it so that I don’t have to.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.