“Hey, Eastern WA: Take the money from King County millionaires and run”
Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat takes a deep dive into the data around I-2109, pointing out that Eastern Washington school districts and economies will really benefit from the state’s capital gains tax on the wealthy.
“This past year, the state’s new capital gains tax on windfall profits from stocks and other assets poured $396 million into school construction projects, the state Department of Revenue reported in January. Many of the school projects given money in the just-ended session of the Legislature were in far-flung districts outside the urban core.
The state also reported the following astonishing figure: 84% of all the capital gains tax money was raised from a single county: King. The 20 counties east of the mountains contributed just 3%, combined.
It suggests the capital gains tax is a huge money transfer from blue Seattle and King County out to red Eastern Washington, and other mostly rural areas. It’s possibly the most tilted blue-to-red program ever enacted in the state.
Example: The Eastmont School District is projected to get a $5 million sweetener from this year’s state school construction pot for its bond proposal, which it is putting back on the local ballot in April. Meanwhile taxpayers where it’s located, Douglas County, contributed less than $100,000 to the capital gains schools fund, according to the state.
Schools everywhere can benefit from this — for now. A Republican-backed initiative to repeal the capital gains tax has qualified for the fall ballot. If the tax goes down, the Legislature noted, the school-construction plan would lose a major source of revenue.”