“Even if an income tax brings in a net same amount of money, it’s a more progressive tax base,” Sen. Joe McDermott said.

“An income tax is not a panacea,” he said, citing the 47 states around the country that have shortfalls this year.

Sen. Lisa Brown said there’s a “big diversity of opinion” in the caucus. “By putting forward a proposal of a high-earners or sometimes called a ‘millionaires tax,’ our goal is not to single out or target our more affluent citizens,” she said, but to give them “a chance to not send all their tax dollars to Washington, D.C.”

Tags: income tax

Sen. Adam Kline said many high-earners are supportive of such a tax.

“There are many, many people, and I believe the trend is favorable … who are beginning to understand … that the burden of the tax system is on low-income people.”

Kline said he believes there’s a shift of thought on income tax as people realize the tax burden is on lower-income families.

Tags: income tax

“My bill would impose a 1 percent income tax on very wealthy individuals in our state,” she said: Single-earners who make more than $500,000 would be taxed 1 percent on the amount over that bar. “We go up from there with regard to heads of household and dual-earners.”

“What’s important here is that we are facing voting on a budget that is basically all cuts, will have extremely deleterious consequences on some in our state who are most in need of services,” she said, “yet the very wealthy will not face an impact because of our budget.”

She said it’s time that “we recognize this for what it is and that we make some structural reform.”

Though Brown said the effor is dead this year, Kohl-Welles said she will be working on it until Sine Die this year.

Tags: income tax

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles: “As you likely know I introduced Senate Bill 6147 this year … we all know that we have one of the most regressive tax structures in the country,” she said. “About 50 percent of our revenue does come from sales tax … which has the most negative effect on lower income” people, she said.

“I don’t know how many millionaires we have in our state,” she said, “but there are plenty.”

Kohl-Welles said Washington is only one of a handful of states — maybe 7 — without a personal or corporate income tax.

Tags: income tax

I’m at the Senate Democratic press conference on creating an income tax for high-earners in the state.

So far, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown is joined by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Sen. Joe McDermott and Sen. Adam Kline. Sen. Rosa Franklin is on the way.

Sen. Lisa Brown: “Just wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on what you already knew — that we had launched a conversation with the public on a high-earners income tax… during this difficult Legislative session.”
She said income tax is “hardly a new” idea. It’s “driven by the motive of making our tax system more fair … we had a very engaged public debate,” she said, including town halls, blog posts and online town halls.

Tags: income tax

Today at 12:15, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown will hold a press conference on the “unfair tax system” with Sens.: Joe McDermott, Adam Kline, Jeanne Kohl-Welles and others. TVW will be there and air the press conference as soon as we can. I’ll keep you updated here.

Tags: income tax

The plan to create an income tax for high earners in Washington is taking shape.

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown told TVW’s Jennifer Huntley that, under her plan, those who make more than $250,000 per year would pay between 1 and 3 percent of that to the state.

Brown gave the figure in an interview this morning that will air tonight on TVW at 7 and 10 p.m.

Brown has been publicly mulling an income tax for high earners for the past week or so, though she’s revealed few details.

Tune in to watch The Impact at 7 and 10 p.m. to find out the latest.

Tags: Budget, income tax