Taxes on the table as Legislature convenes

_{Taxes on the table as Legislature convenes – Before the Legislature convened on January 13, significant tax increases had already been floated to attempt to balance the state’s operating budget. Senate Democrats recently let slip (Seattle Times article) a slate of tax ideas they feel the Legislature should consider. See the full list here; they include:}

• _{Remove the cap on employer payroll taxes, similar to Seattle’s JumpStart payroll tax.}
• _{Impose a B&O surcharge of an additional 1% on taxpayers with WA taxable income over $500 million on a marginal basis.}
• _{Impose a wealth tax on individuals who reside in Washington of 1% on financial intangible assets exceeding $50 million.}
• _{Raise the capital-gains tax for gains over $1 million to 9.9%, while keeping at 7% for gains over the}
• _{current threshold ($250K) for less than $1 million.}
• _{Increase the regular property-tax levy growth limit for both state and local tax districts by revising the definition of “inflation” and “limit factor,” increasing it from 1% to a maximum of 3%.}
• _{Increase the ceiling for Tier 1 real-estate excise tax (REET) from $545,000 to $750,000 and impose a new real-estate transfer tax (RETT) of 1% on the value of the selling price over $3.025M.}
• _{Define the rental of self-service storage units as a retail transaction taxable under the retailing B&O tax classification and the retail sales tax.}
• _{Impose a new 11% tax on sales of ammunition, firearms and parts.}
• _{Replace the B&O tax with a margins tax. The House document states that the margins tax is designed to be revenue neutral but can be dialed to be revenue positive.}

_{Senate Democrats also note some possible tax cuts, such as an expansion of the Working Families Tax Credit, which sends annual rebates to lower-income Washingtonians. And they’re looking at a property-tax exemption for homeowners and a tax credit for renters.
Whether and which of these tax proposals will be actually adopted remains to be seen. AGCW will oppose all of these increases and believes that the operating budget should be restrained to match the revenue (which is increasing without tax hikes!).}