8 ms·

Details are sparse in this article. Looks like 7% capital gains tax, first $250K excluded, real estate excluded. Proceeds to primarily fund childhood education

Details are sparse in this article. Looks like 7% capital gains tax, first $250K excluded, real estate excluded. Proceeds to primarily fund childhood education (for now). > For example, stock sales higher than $250,000 would be taxed at 7%. Real estate would not be. 7% (on top of federal cap gains, which are also increasing) is a significant tax rate to start with. If it was 1-2%, I could see people rolling with it. At a whopping 7%, I expect a lot of startup founders and small business owners looking for an exit will be moving across the border to Portland right before they sell their companies.

BadCookie 6y ago
They will move to Oregon so that they can pay 9.9% instead?
grumpitron 6y ago
It looks like Oregon has a 9.9% capital gains tax, so moving to Portland would add to the tax bill of founders relocating before selling their company instead of reducing it.
- danans 6y ago
  Oregon also has a state income tax, unlike Washington.
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    Washington currently has 0.4% income tax for W2 employees, and another 0.6% coming on Jan 1, 2022 unless you have sufficient long term disability insurance by Jul 2021 to be able to opt out of it. So WA will effectively have a 1% income tax beginning Jan 1, 2022 for W2 earners (aka employees).
    - licyeus 6y ago
      Searched for and couldn't find the 0.4% tax, which tax are you referring to? And for others, the incoming 2022 tax is a 0.58% payroll tax. From WA directly: "Washington state does not have a personal or corporate income tax." [1] 1 - https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/income-tax https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/income-tax
      - lotsofpulp 6y ago
        https://paidleave.wa.gov/estimate-your-paid-leave-payments/ https://paidleave.wa.gov/estimate-your-paid-leave-payments/ Washington can claim it does not have an income tax (for the purposes of subverting the state’s constitution forbidding it), but I do not see how money deducted from your income by government mandate is not a tax.
- foobiekr 6y ago
  Oregon treats capital gains as regular income (so do most states, including CA). Oregon also has one of the worst tax regimes in the country. For most earners, a resident of a state like CA without sales tax on groceries, medical care, or medical necessities will end up with a substantially lower tax burden than a similar earner in Oregon. To be more taxed than CA is crazy.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
decremental 6y ago
I doubt any business owners are thinking about moving to Portland.
- Relys 6y ago
  When I lived there a few years ago, there was an increasing amount of tech companies from Seattle opening up offices in Portland.
  - BuyMyBitcoins 6y ago
    With all the sustained civil unrest and property destruction I’d steer clear of Portland if I wanted to open an office.
  - lawnchair_larry 6y ago
    It has changed a lot with antifa having free reign for the last year. Lots of businesses boarded up and leaving. Even the Apple store was just set on fire again.
    - whydoibother 6y ago
      Somehow, I imagine you aren't in Portland or haven't spent a lot of time downtown. You are regurgitating right talking points.
      - decremental 6y ago
        It's not exactly a secret what's going on there. While I doubt the place is on fire 24/7, the substantial damage sustained to local businesses cannot be denied. It would be difficult to convince someone who was thinking critically about moving their business there that all is well now and going forward.
        smolder 6y ago
        It's not a secret that the majority of the country has been dragged down into believing political fiction of some sort or another as fact by the relentless partisan propaganda. I'm sure many more people on the right were whipped into anger by the supposed $23 million in protest related losses than will ever read this: https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/07/coronavirus-closures-inflated-23-million-reported-in-downtown-portland-protest-damages.html https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/07/coronavirus-clos...
verst 6y ago
The first 250k in profits from capital gains are exempt. It is estimated that this tax only affects the 7000 richest individuals in Washington. Keep in mind we don't have any income taxes here.
- giantg2 6y ago
  "Keep in mind we don't have any income taxes here." That's not really what the supporters of this bill think. They claim an excise type tax already exists and that it provides precedent for this one since income taxes are unconstitutional.
  - xxpor 6y ago
    Income taxes are not unconstitutional. Progressive income taxes are. No one wants to impose a flat income tax though.
    - giantg2 6y ago
      Thanks for bringing that up. It looks like local income taxes are not allowed under law and that any tax at the state level has to be flat. It seems the article may have misrepresented that with "Income taxes are unconstitutional in Washington state.". (Unless there's some obscure case law regarding flat income taxes)
    - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
      So, this is a tax on certain kinds of income rather than all income. And it exempts the first $250K, so it's a progressive tax. So...
      - giantg2 6y ago
        I wonder if the courts care though. The B&O tax applies at different rates for different business types. The class of property taxed should be gross business receipts, but it seemed the courts are ok with the rates varying by business type.
      - 6y ago
spaetzleesser 6y ago
I like that a certain amount is excluded but I don’t like exemptions for real estate. It should be treated like any other investment.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
leipert 6y ago
Meanwhile we have 25% capital gains tax in Germany.
- darawk 6y ago
  This is just the state rate. The current federal rate is 20%, and is about to rise to 43%. So, the full tax rate on capital gains in WA is 27% and going to be 50%.
loeg 6y ago
> At a whopping 7%, I expect a lot of startup founders and small business owners looking for an exit will be moving across the border to Portland right before they sell their companies. Why? Oregon has income tax of 9-10% on all income over $9k/year.

BadCookie 6y ago

They will move to Oregon so that they can pay 9.9% instead?

grumpitron 6y ago

It looks like Oregon has a 9.9% capital gains tax, so moving to Portland would add to the tax bill of founders relocating before selling their company instead of reducing it.

danans 6y ago
Oregon also has a state income tax, unlike Washington.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  Washington currently has 0.4% income tax for W2 employees, and another 0.6% coming on Jan 1, 2022 unless you have sufficient long term disability insurance by Jul 2021 to be able to opt out of it. So WA will effectively have a 1% income tax beginning Jan 1, 2022 for W2 earners (aka employees).
  - licyeus 6y ago
    Searched for and couldn't find the 0.4% tax, which tax are you referring to? And for others, the incoming 2022 tax is a 0.58% payroll tax. From WA directly: "Washington state does not have a personal or corporate income tax." [1] 1 - https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/income-tax https://dor.wa.gov/taxes-rates/income-tax
    - lotsofpulp 6y ago
      https://paidleave.wa.gov/estimate-your-paid-leave-payments/ https://paidleave.wa.gov/estimate-your-paid-leave-payments/ Washington can claim it does not have an income tax (for the purposes of subverting the state’s constitution forbidding it), but I do not see how money deducted from your income by government mandate is not a tax.
foobiekr 6y ago
Oregon treats capital gains as regular income (so do most states, including CA). Oregon also has one of the worst tax regimes in the country. For most earners, a resident of a state like CA without sales tax on groceries, medical care, or medical necessities will end up with a substantially lower tax burden than a similar earner in Oregon. To be more taxed than CA is crazy.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

decremental 6y ago

I doubt any business owners are thinking about moving to Portland.

Relys 6y ago
When I lived there a few years ago, there was an increasing amount of tech companies from Seattle opening up offices in Portland.
- BuyMyBitcoins 6y ago
  With all the sustained civil unrest and property destruction I’d steer clear of Portland if I wanted to open an office.
- lawnchair_larry 6y ago
  It has changed a lot with antifa having free reign for the last year. Lots of businesses boarded up and leaving. Even the Apple store was just set on fire again.
  - whydoibother 6y ago
    Somehow, I imagine you aren't in Portland or haven't spent a lot of time downtown. You are regurgitating right talking points.
    - decremental 6y ago
      It's not exactly a secret what's going on there. While I doubt the place is on fire 24/7, the substantial damage sustained to local businesses cannot be denied. It would be difficult to convince someone who was thinking critically about moving their business there that all is well now and going forward.
      - smolder 6y ago
        It's not a secret that the majority of the country has been dragged down into believing political fiction of some sort or another as fact by the relentless partisan propaganda. I'm sure many more people on the right were whipped into anger by the supposed $23 million in protest related losses than will ever read this: https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/07/coronavirus-closures-inflated-23-million-reported-in-downtown-portland-protest-damages.html https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/07/coronavirus-clos...

verst 6y ago

The first 250k in profits from capital gains are exempt. It is estimated that this tax only affects the 7000 richest individuals in Washington. Keep in mind we don't have any income taxes here.

giantg2 6y ago
"Keep in mind we don't have any income taxes here." That's not really what the supporters of this bill think. They claim an excise type tax already exists and that it provides precedent for this one since income taxes are unconstitutional.
- xxpor 6y ago
  Income taxes are not unconstitutional. Progressive income taxes are. No one wants to impose a flat income tax though.
  - giantg2 6y ago
    Thanks for bringing that up. It looks like local income taxes are not allowed under law and that any tax at the state level has to be flat. It seems the article may have misrepresented that with "Income taxes are unconstitutional in Washington state.". (Unless there's some obscure case law regarding flat income taxes)
  - AnimalMuppet 6y ago
    So, this is a tax on certain kinds of income rather than all income. And it exempts the first $250K, so it's a progressive tax. So...
    - giantg2 6y ago
      I wonder if the courts care though. The B&O tax applies at different rates for different business types. The class of property taxed should be gross business receipts, but it seemed the courts are ok with the rates varying by business type.
    - 6y ago

spaetzleesser 6y ago

I like that a certain amount is excluded but I don’t like exemptions for real estate. It should be treated like any other investment.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

leipert 6y ago

Meanwhile we have 25% capital gains tax in Germany.

darawk 6y ago
This is just the state rate. The current federal rate is 20%, and is about to rise to 43%. So, the full tax rate on capital gains in WA is 27% and going to be 50%.

loeg 6y ago

> At a whopping 7%, I expect a lot of startup founders and small business owners looking for an exit will be moving across the border to Portland right before they sell their companies. Why? Oregon has income tax of 9-10% on all income over $9k/year.