Washington voters agree — tax the wealthy
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
By: Teo Popescu
The election dust has settled in Washington state and for the first time in over a decade residents have overwhelmingly voted in favor of taxing the wealthy.
Certified election results, released last week, confirm Washington didn’t buck the national "red shift" after all — Donald Trump increased his 2020 vote share in most counties, including King County. But Washington voters brought home another, much bigger shift at the state level.
Initiative 2109 would have repealed the state’s capital gains tax, which hits the wealthiest Washingtonians (4,000 people in 2022) by taxing the sale of assets such as stocks and bonds that net over $262,000 in profits.
Thirty-two out of 39 counties voted to keep the tax — and even among the counties that voted to repeal it, results show tepid support for getting rid of the tax, at best. In three of the seven opposing counties, the repeal vote won by less than 1%.
To put that in perspective, 14 years ago, Initiative 1098 — which would have reduced the limit on statewide property taxes by 20% and eliminated business and occupation taxes for some small businesses by taxing annual income over $400,000 for families and $200,000 for individuals — failed by 64% statewide with all but San Juan County voting against the tax.
Taxing the wealthy in Washington may not be novel for long. Last month, Seattle’s city council failed to pass a citywide capital gains tax amidst a $250 million budget shortfall. But newly elected Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, who's set to take office next month, is already pushing for a “debate on progressive revenue on her second day,” according to The Stranger.
Other findings
Donald Trump gains votes in Washington
When it comes to the presidency, Washington voters (barely) moved to the right this year in comparison to 2020. President-elect Donald Trump won 39.01% of 2024 ballots to his 38.77% in 2020. A closer look shows that the three counties with the biggest shifts to the right, (Franklin, Yakima, and Adams), also saw the biggest drops in voter turnout.
Credits
Story: Teo Popescu
Design and graphics: Teo Popescu
Editors: Liz Brazile and Stephen Howie
Product Manager: Lisa Wang
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