Are Both the Legislature & State Supreme Court Ignoring our Constitution?

Does this scenario portray our state's legislature on state income tax?  I'll leave it up to you as to who's who here.

Source: ShiftWA.org

Proposed House Republican budget helps the families the Democrats have forgotten.  Democrats patted themselves on the back in 2007 for creating the Working Families Tax Credit.  Problem is, they never funded the program (because it does not achieve the primary liberal goals of expanding the number of government employees or rewarding another special interest group).  Republicans have proposed a budget that funds the long-forgotten program, helps working families (including childcare options and assisting with distance-learning expenses), and does not increase taxes. (Click to read full Shift Article)

Democrat legislators continue to ignore the fact that their “capital gains” tax is actually an unconstitutional state income tax, even after they slightly altered Governor Jay Inslee’s proposal (reducing the tax rate from 9% to 7%) before voting it out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.  As Jason Mercier of the Washington Policy Center has researched and Shift has repeatedly reported on, the IRS and the 49 other states all consider a capital gains tax as a tax on income, which is unconstitutional in Washington State.   SB 5096 sponsor, Senator June Robinson (D – Everett) pushed a false class warfare argument when she stated, “It’s a reasonable way of asking those wealthy few to join the rest of us in building a stronger, healthier state for all Washingtonians — a state in which they have thrived.” Robinson ignores the fact that the top 10% of wage earners already pay 69% of the federal income tax, and they also likely pay property taxes, business taxes, estate taxes, sales taxes, and many other taxes, fees, and tolls.  Most are job creators whose employees also pay all of these taxes. The wealthy are also the largest financial supporters of hospitals, schools, the arts, medical research, and thousands of charities which are also “building a stronger, healthier state” (and doing so far more efficiently and successfully than government).  This makes us wonder, would Senator Robinson and all the Democrats who are supporting this tax bill, be willing to release their tax records so everyone can see just how committed they are to “building a stronger, healthier state” through their charitable giving?  (Olympian, Washington Policy Center, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, and Fox Business/Tax Foundation)

Republican legislators have introduced legislation to reduce the tax burden on those in the hospitality industry, who have been unfairly impacted by Governor Inslee’s random and unscientific lockdown orders.  Representative Brandon Vick (R – Battle Ground) sponsored HB 1299, which would reduce the state’s B&O tax by 27%, through 2025, for restaurants, bars, hotels, theaters, and others in the hospitality industry.  At a virtual public hearing this week, many small business organizations testified in favor of the legislation, many of whom said it will take years for most of the businesses to recover from the financial losses they have experienced during the pandemic. (The Lens and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Despite the Inslee Administration claim that its COVID-19 vaccination plan would be “equitable” in distributing doses, KUOW reports that data shows “big disparities in vaccinations, with many communities of color getting vaccinated at disproportionately low rates.”  Much of the problem is due to the Department of Health being dependent on a confusing and inaccessible website to inform the public of vaccination options.  The website makes as much sense as some of Jay Inslee’s doodles his campaign sold as artwork. This is yet another example of the Inslee Administration’s unpreparedness to immunize Washington residents, despite knowing for nine months that a mass vaccination effort would be required to end the pandemic. (KUOW)