State Dems Block Citizens Vote on Proposed Capital Gains Tax

You may have heard of the legislative battle going on in Olympia over one of Governor Inslee's 'holy grail' projects, the Capital Gains Tax.

According to an excellent piece in the independent Washington Observer, this would place a 7% tax on capital gains (on sale of stocks, for example) over $250,000. Now, granted capital gains on this level don't affect many of us. But it's the principle. Capital Gains taxes are un-Constitutional; although Democrats are trying to spin and bend it as an 'excise' tax. And, capital gains are unpredictable, they depend upon whom and when they choose to sell. They're also a sure fire way to discourage investors to pony up money in local and regional economies-investment.

The vote to move the tax plan out of the Ways and Means Committee was 13-10 in favor, including one Democrat voting no. Senator Mark Muller appears to be 'turning' on Gov. Inslee, especially after Inslee supported his radical AOC-type opponent last November.

But the shocking part is the methods used by Democratic Senators to attempt to block citizens resistance. In moving the bill out of committee, the 13 Democrats had to vote down two Republican amendments.

One would have put the tax before voters this coming November. That was voted down. The other was to remove the "emergency clause," which in layman's terms would block a Referendum vote on the matter. Citizens could still, says the Observer, challenge the tax with an Initiative, but those require twice as many signatures as do Referendums. They also cost a lot more money.

Gov. Inslee has sought a capital gains tax since nearly day one, but for years was blocked by The Coalition; that group of 25 GOP and 2 Democratic Senators who shot down nearly all of his 'interesting' proposals for well over five years. Now with shifts in the Senate since the end of 2018, we're seeing his ideas being pushed through.

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