Washington State gets an income tax

Here's a biggie in the tax world, at least for those of us who follow such things in the Pacific Northwest. The State of Washington, which hasn't ever had an individual income tax before, now has a 7 percent "excise" tax on certain big "capital gains." It will take effect come the first of next year.

Of course, the average person doesn't have capital gains, and only a tiny segment of the population has gains big enough to trigger the new Washington tax. But unless the inevitable court challenges succeed in blocking it, it's the camel's nose in the tent. The exclusions could easily be lowered, and the types of income that get taxed could easily be expanded. Then Washington, like most states, would have both a sales tax and a state income tax.

Anyway, for any readers up there who might be worried, my old law firm has written the new tax up here. Read it and weep, Bezos, Gates, Schultz et al.