Taxes: Progressives miss boat on true fairness

Re: “I’m a top 3-percenter; please tax me more, fix broken system,”(TNT, Dec. 20).

Adrienne Stuart’s guest opinion piece reminded me of one of the major points of cynicism or hypocrisy (whatever you want to call it) exhibited by so-called progressives in this state.

Namely, their proclaimed concern about the heavy relative state tax burden on low-income people.

The remedy most often proposed by progressives, as was just done by Gov. Jay Inslee, is an unconstitutional capital gains tax (aka, income tax) on wealthier people. But how does this lessen the tax burden on those low earners? It doesn’t!

If progressives in this state were really concerned about the high relative taxes paid by so many in Washington they would propose to do something like permanently abolishing the regressive sales tax and amending the constitution to allow for a flat-rate income tax.

But when was the last time you heard a progressive politician advocate for eliminating a tax?

I hear crickets.

This story was originally published December 23, 2020 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Taxes: Progressives miss boat on true fairness."