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Washington is on the verge of passing a millionaires tax. This is 9.9% tax, triggered when income exceeds $1M.
Sounds good to the plebeians. Soak the rich! As written, it will affect many small LLCs taxed as S Corps. The WSSC, with a wink and a nod overturned 90 years of precedent when it ruled capital gains was not income but was based on the sale of an asset. Some are speculating labor will considered an asset sold for wages received, basically catching all wage earners in a large tax net.
The AOC response is priceless. Her standard answer on domestic policy is more free stuff. Not a news flash to anyone, she has no clue on foreign policy. She is dumber than Kamala Harris, which is no small feat.
WTH happened to the Pacific Coast States? Oregon is so broken and corrupt it is also on the brink. Washington legislature is trying to circumvent the voter initiative while looking for new ways to generate revenue after the largest tax increase in the state’s history.
New motto for Libs – There is no problem we can’t fix with enough of your money.
Outside of no income tax and cheaper property, there is not much to gain (if anything) by moving from Cali to WA.
While the overall tax burden appears low, gas tax, fees, tolls, real estate tax (on gross $ when selling real estate), estate taxes, car tags and a hefty tax on capital gains plus additional utility fees. It’s a LONNGGG list. I’ve seen some estimates the average WA resident pays $5000 more in taxes and fees than taxpayers in other states.
On the docket is a wealth tax and sales tax. Sitting on the border of Oregon and Washington, it’s fun to watch legislatures in both states try to add a sales tax in Oregon and income tax in Washington using the same talking points.
After the largest tax increase in Washington’s history, there is still a revenue shortfall. Rather than prioritize programs, dems are out looking for more ways to generate revenue. Ugh.
How do you spend $236 million on just 22 people in four years?
It’s a skill set. High level, high concept thinking.
Probably surprising to no one, both sides of aisle pound their collective chest about reducing fraud, waste and abuse until it actually comes to doing something.
If Elon had been Biden’s pick for this, Dems would have been taking a victory lap. Of course, anything uncovered would have been buried immediately.
“If approved, the cash will not be subject to state constitutional funding limitations because 90% of it will go toward healthcare and 10% will support food or education initiatives. ”
Sounds like a wagon load of BS to me. Does the new revenue enhance health care funding or does it replace cuts?
[quote quote=10861]
https://www.opb.org/article/2023/08/23/joint-office-homeless-portland-audit/ Similar story in Seattle. Locally, the budget for fighting homelessness is $265M/year. Portland’s homeless population is estimated at 5000. It would be cheaper to just buy a house for each of them.
That’s $53,000 in annual homeless spend for each. There are 5,108 houses for sale in the state of Michigan between $5,000 and $53,000. Send the homeless to Michigan, try to get them jobs. Pay 1/2 the cost of the house this year and the other half to fix it up as necessary. Do the rest the subsequent year. Presto. Problem solved.[/quote]
Some estimates run as much 2x for funding when NGOs are factored in. The problem is overlapping agencies duplicating services with inconsistent approaches to address the problem. Some want to provide housing before drug/alcohol problems are addressed, others insist treatment first is necessary. There are no metrics to measure success or failure of any approach.
No matter the approach or state, one thing is constant – we only need a few million$ more in the budget and we can solve the problem.
Not mentioned is simply the cost of owning a second home. Toss in travel cost, value of the Canadian dollar vs US$, aging demographic, difficulty in getting insurance in Florida plus profit taking on homes purchased years ago all have an impact.
Yes, the political climate is listed as the #1 reason for Canadians to sell their US homes. It may be a catalyst, but it not the only reason.
Similar story in Seattle. New Socialist mayor is pushing $21/hr minimum wage plus she is proposing penalizing business that close as a result. She is especially focused on grocery stores that close. Never mind that policy, rules and regulations are driving small businesses into bankruptcy.
People who love a high “livable” minimum wage don’t like self check out. Gee, I can wait to read comments from shoppers experiencing AI driven customer service robots. Input your project or shopping list and a bot will take you to the exact location of the products you want.
Shoot, 4 years ago a Hampton in near SJC airport was experimenting with a robot to deliver linens and other items to rooms after 5:00 PM. Granddaughters were chasing it around the hotel. 🙂 I guess this eliminates at least 2 perhaps as many as 4 jobs at the hotel. Easy choice, hire someone for $80k in salary and benefits or buy a robot that can work 24/7 without supervision for $150K.
Less Jackson’s status as a war hero, there are many similarities between Trump and Jackson. The most significant is their appeal to the common man and resistance from political elitists.
Son and family avoided Disneyland last summer, citing cost of over $1000/day.
Never was a big fan of Vegas. Lost complete interest as Vegas became “family friendly”.
Went to Oahu last summer. We stayed with girl friend’s daughter and son in law, had the use of a car. Lot’s of beach time, so our costs were ridiculously low. That said, there were several tourist activities I passed on because of stupidly costly price.
Destinations like Vegas are suffering from a lack of visitors. Catering to the rich, reducing market size, will have the unintended consequence of reducing employment in the hospitality industry. Fewer visitors means fewer employees needed to care for visitors.
