WSJ: Voters Get No Say on a Washington State Income Tax
The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board weighs in following the decision from the Washington State Supreme Court that the state income tax cannot be challenged by voter referedum:
“Consistent with the words of the constitution and our unbroken line of precedent,” the Justices wrote, the millionaires tax can’t be rejected by referendum because it is “necessary for the . . . support of the state government.” The law represents a “comprehensive system of taxation . . . with the clear purpose of raising revenue,” they added.
Yes, raising revenue is what most taxes do, but protecting the Legislature’s prerogatives doesn’t square with the state constitution’s ban on progressive taxes on intangible property, which includes income. Nor is it easy to accept the income tax as an urgent revenue matter when it isn’t imposed until 2028.
So it goes when legislating from the bench. The progressive justices are the reason Democratic state lawmakers pushed ahead with the law, which imposes a 9.9% tax on household income over $1 million. Washington’s voters have rejected 10 attempts to impose an income tax since 1934. But when the state Supreme Court approved a 7% capital-gains tax in 2023 by calling it an excise tax, progressives saw an opening to go further.