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Seattle City Council Unanimously Approves Income Tax For the Rich (geekwire.com)
reifman writes: Amazon, tech employees and those making $250,000 or more annually in Seattle will now pay a 2.25 percent income tax. "The Seattle City Council estimates that the tax would bring in an additional $140 million each year," reports GeekWire. "The revenue would go toward the city's housing affordability agenda and carbon reduction goals and supplant federal funds if they are cut. The revenue is also intended to alleviate the burden of Washington's property and sales taxes, which are often called the most regressive in the country." Anyone who's seen Amazon's impacts on Seattle and its low and middle income residents will appreciate how this tax will help the homeless, lower income and improve the environment. Not everyone is thrilled with the recently approved legislation. Jason Mercier, who directs the center for government reform with the Washington Police Center, said: "[The council is] going to unanimously adopt an illegal income tax that has no hope of taking effect and will waste taxpayer resources on litigation the city is sure to lose." The measure is expected to be challenged in court, as Washington's constitution states "a county, city, or city-county shall not levy a tax on net income." According to The Washington Post, Mercier said there is decade of case law saying that a graduated income tax is unconstitutional because income is property and under the constitution, property tax has to be taxed uniformly and no more than 1 percent.
Worth noting that according to Source Watch, the Washington Policy Center receives funding from the Koch brothers and pushes agenda items from American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in the state.. Take that as you will per your political leanings.
I notice the American Right wing is all in favor of local government right up until they do something they don't like. Then they want the State gov't to step in and outlaw it. The State gov'ts seem about perfect. Big enough to oppress but not so big they can't just buy them all out.
I think that Seattle gets it wrong, but I support the ability of a local or state government to make this determination for themselves. In fact, I think that the federal income tax should be abolished entirely and that states should be funding the federal governments out of their tax revenues. Of course, this would mean that states would have to tax income more at levels like what the federal government does. In fact, if you study the federal republic concept that forms the basis of the US, that is how it should be. The federal government today is far larger, more bureaucratic, and more powerful than the founders could have imagined.
Right now, if the federal government lowers or raises income taxes, then your only choice is to comply or run afoul of the law. In the state-based arrangement I mentioned above, the federal government would have to convince the states that it is in their best interests to fund whatever thing the federal government is proposing. That would act as a very effective check on the ever increasing power and size of the federal government. On top of that, if states choose not to comply it effectively acts as a form of pocket veto (because you cannot through an entire state in jail). Same as when some countries refuse to pay their UN dues, or whatever. If a large enough amount of money gets withheld then the job can't get done. It would make sure only truly worthwhile things get funded.
But then, I also favor a return to state legislatures selecting Senators. I don not think it likely that either popular election of Senators or the federal income tax will be repealed. But I still think they are good ideas.
Note: I don'y really know why I am replying here, as it seems anytime I pop up in anything even remotely political my posts get hit with an avalanche of "overrated" mods; it seems moderators believe "overrated" == "disagree". At least some of them have the intestinal fortitude to mod troll (even if I am not trolling), but then they probably are secure in their thoughts and ideas and can handle their mods being metamoded. So, I'll probably get modded to oblivion, but oh well.