Washington Legislature's income tax brings challenges

There is an interesting conflict in the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) as well. The bill to implement the income tax was codified in RCW 82A.04, which contains 43 sections and runs to thousands of words. By contrast, RCW 1.90.100, subsection reads "Neither the state nor any county, city, or other local jurisdiction in the state of Washington may tax any individual person on any form of personal income."

But the real cleverness comes in subsection 2, which reads:

"Subsection 1 of this section does not apply to the tax authorized in chapter 82A.04 RCW so long as the standard deduction is at least $1,000,000 for a household."

Now comes Initiative Petition 645, which would repeal the whole thing. Petitions in Washington State need at least 308,911 valid signatures to qualify. Because some of the signatures are always disqualified, the state suggests gathering a minimum of 390,000.

Let's Go Washington, the conservative group which has managed several repeal campaigns, turned in 500,000, and the Secretary of State's office said Wednesday that a sample check indicates there are more than enough valid signatures. Come November, the repeal will be on the general election ballot, and if history is any indicator, it will pass handily.

Governor Ferguson saw the writing on the wall Tuesday and appealed to labor leaders, educators, business owners and advocates to launch a campaign opposing I-645. He also promised to veto any legislation lowering the million-dollar threshold, which is what many believe what would happen if this foot-in-the-door measure holds up, so that medium and lower income people over time would also be taxed.

The next four months will be interesting.