It is time for us to consider a tax on families making more than $500,000 a year. Our state is flat broke and the tax system is unfair. Currently, our state places the tax burden on low and moderate income citizens through a combination of sales, property, and small businesses taxes. According to the Economic Opportunity Institute (EOI) the lowest income citizens pay the highest percentage of their income in taxes, while the wealthiest pay the smallest amount. In fact, our structure is so outdated and inefficient that we have the most regressive tax system in the country. Even Louisiana and Mississippi and Texas laugh at us which is saying something.
Moreover, not only is the tax system unfair it does not provide enough revenue to finance basic services including education, transportation, health care, or early learning. If, for example, we want to truly ensure that all children in this state enter school ready to learn and are reading at grade level, we need to spend considerable more resources than we are right now. A fairer and more progressive tax structure is needed. I for one support a tax on the rich to get it done!
For more information please go to http://www.eoionline.org/tax_reform/reports/FairerTaxesForWashington-Apr08.pdf
Joel
