The far-Left is pushing another strategy this year to impose a state income tax, after having failed so many times in the past. A group called Opportunity for Olympia is circulating a petition that calls for creating a 1.5 percent tax on household income in excess of $200,000, impacting Olympia’s “wealthiest households to generate college tuition money for all local high school graduates.”
Supporters say the scheme would raise about $2.5 million a year. They estimate the income tax would be imposed on about 750 households in Olympia city limits. The Olympian:
“The petition needs 4,702 valid signatures by June 16 to qualify for the November general election ballot. If the law passes, every public high school graduate and GED recipient living inside Olympia’s boundaries would be eligible for money to pay for the first year of tuition at any community college, or an equivalent amount can be applied to tuition at any public university in Washington.”
The plan is, of course, an absolutely ridiculous redistribution of wealth with a plethora of unforeseen consequences — why would a family earning more than $200,000 stay in Olympia when they could simply move?
But, as supporters admit, it’s not just about paying for kids’ college tuition.
The activist group Opportunity for Olympia admits that the “bigger picture” is to “present a formidable chink in opposition to a state income tax, and help reform a regressive tax system.”
The fact that the proposal is unprecedented with highly questionable legality ensures it will face a legal challenge if passed. And that’s what the supporters want, in hopes that the current liberal Supreme Court would abandon decades of court precedent and allow an income tax statewide.
