Our schools are caught in the crossfire of Washington state’s war over income taxes. Ever since the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that income taxes were unconstitutional in 1933, there has been debate over the subject of bringing it back. About three weeks ago a group announced their goal to introduce legislation for a income tax in Seattle, while in February a bill was introduced to prohibit the tax for the entire state by amending the state’s constitution (it failed, only 6 votes away from being brought to public ballots). Washington remains one of only 7 states without any income tax— and it is suffering for it.
Back in 2012, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that the state was not adequately funding K-12 education as required by article nine of the Washington Constitution, which reads as follows; "It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex." In 2014, the state Supreme Court issued a 100,000 dollar fine each day it fails to do so. That’s $36.5 million dollars owed per year since then— and none of it has been paid. Introducing both personal and corporate income taxes could solve this long-standing issue once and for all. While it is clearly understandable why anyone would be wary of having to pay more taxes— we need to be able to fund our schools. Not just because the state is legally bound to do so— but because educating the younger generation is essential for assuring the continued well-being of our society. The lack of these taxes also further forces lower-income citizens to bear the brunt of what taxes the state does levy— more so than most other states. According to The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the lowest earning 20% of Washington taxpayers pay 16.8% of their income as taxes— that’s 154% of the national average of 10.9%. Meanwhile, the top 1% earning Washington taxpayers pay only 2.4% of their income towards taxes— that’s 44% of the national average. If Washington were to introduce a graduated income tax, and lowered the rates on sales and excise taxes (which tend to weigh much more on lower income taxpayers), this imbalance could be fairly leveled out. Take a look at California, for example, which does exactly this. The lowest earning 20% pay 10.5% of their total income as taxes, and the highest earning 1% pay 11.2% of their income towards taxes. While this is still slightly skewed, this is much more even than what Washington currently has. Our schools could finally get the funding they need. We cannot continue to debate this until the eventual heat-death of the universe— this needs to come to a conclusion soon. Our schools need basic funding to function properly and educate the future of this state as best they can. The majority of us would be paying less in taxes every year were this to pan out cleanly— it’s almost a clear win-win. Why not implement income taxes in Washington? ~Garrett
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