Emily Makings

Lessons From Canada

"Canada's Budget Triumph," a recent paper from David Henderson (published by the Mercatus Center) is well worth the read.  It is particularly instructive as Washington implements immediate spending cuts and faces a $4.5 billion deficit for the 2011-13 biennium. Back in 1993-94, Canada's federal debt to GDP ratio was 67 percent (and they were spending […]

Debt and Taxes

A Stateline article notes that nationally this year the bulk of the ballot initiatives focus on fiscal, rather than social issues.  This is certainly the case in Washington, where we have initiatives affecting taxes and state debt, among others.  Yesterday we posted policy briefs on two of these:  Referendum 52 and Initiative 1053. R-52 asks […]

Money They Don't Need

Nick Hanauer, a backer of I-1098, gave TechFlash a quote that he must have thought helped the cause: “For people like me and Jeff Bezos and Steve Ballmer, this is a very expensive tax. People where 99 percent of your income is above $500,000, this is a very expensive tax, and I get how it’s […]

Just Trust Us

An editorial in Sunday's Columbian, urging voters to reject I-1098, talks about trust.  The income tax proposal is written to apply to individuals making over $200,000 (and married couples making over $400,000); consequently, supporters are selling it as being a tax on the rich only. But the Columbian isn't buying it: Oh, but the measure […]

"It's Going to Be a Bumpy Ride"

On Friday, Washington State Wire ran a story on the volatility of the income tax on high earners that is proposed in Initiative 1098.  No matter what you think of the merits of an income tax per se, this particular proposal is untenable — especially given Washington’s current budget situation.  Erik Smith writes, High earner […]

Taxing the Rich

A Forbes.com article from yesterday looks at how the federal government and some states are considering increasing taxes on the wealthy.  It includes a discussion of Initiative 1098 in Washington. This and other articles on the initiative (see Dick Davis’ recent post for some examples) highlight some of the negative consequences I-1098 would have on […]

Update: Comparative State and Local Taxes

The Census Bureau recently released the latest statistics on state and local taxes as part of its 2008 Survey of Government Finances. For 2007/2008, we have calculated that the per capita tax burden on the average Washingtonian was $4,354, while the amount of tax revenue collected per $1,000 of personal income was $105.49. Washington ranked […]