Taxes: Deep needs require income tax

Enough! Our legislators must free themselves from those who fund them and do what’s best for Washington.

We must adequately fund our schools, make college affordable, help the mentally or physically impaired, restore our crumbling infrastructure, protect the environment and accept that climate change is real.

How can we afford these things? Like most other states: with income taxes paid only by those of us among the most affluent 30 percent or so. We can take our cue from good guys like Bill Gates Sr., who proposed an income tax several years ago.

Washington has among the most regressive taxes in the nation. The more money a taxpayer has, the smaller the portion going to taxes. The less money a taxpayer has, the greater the portion going to taxes.

Our wealthiest 1 percent pay only 3.3 percent of their income in taxes, while the poorest fifth pay 17.3 percent. Washington is notorious for the extraordinary degree to which we have shifted the cost of funding public investments to our very poorest.

You think the most affluent can’t afford reasonable income taxes? Look around you. Yachts, mansions, luxurious cars, expensive restaurants.Of course we can. And should!

This story was originally published January 22, 2016 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Taxes: Deep needs require income tax."