John Stubb

Washington State Democrats just passed an astronomical $77.8 billion budget. This is a 300% increase from the budget 8 years ago. Yes, 300% 🤯 Inflation over that period was high (30%) but still only one TENTH the rate of WA budget growth 😤 Let that sink in.

Washington State Democrats just proposed a new wealth tax to address the state's gaping budget deficit. Each time they've propose a wealth tax they lower the threshold at which it would apply. In their first attempt, it applied to people with over a 1billion in assets. Then it dropped to 250million then 100million and now 50million. Given how irresponsibly they've managed the state's budget recently, it's much more likely to be passed by the Democratic super-majority. Washington has a 13 BILLION dollar budget shortfall, which is even worse than Calfornia when you factor in our much smaller population. When Democrats passed the capital gains tax they cheered their new source of funding, which brought in over 800m in its first year. What they didn't realize is that Washingtonians are not forced to pay a capital gains tax. They can either delay or indefinitely postpone selling assets, or they can leave Washington entirely. And, in fact, both of these things happened immediately, with over 10,000 households leaving the state after it was passed. Tax collections from the capital gains tax dropped by half after the first year. So now Democrats have decided that since they can't force successful Washingtonians to sell their assets, they'll just go after those assets directly. This is of course completely crazy (and unprecedented in the United States). No state in the country has a wealth tax because the consequence is wealthy people would immediately leave. Even the ultra-wealthy Democrat megadonor @NickHanauer commented in the Seattle Times that “Even if it clears the legal, implementation & other legal challenges, it’s unlikely to raise much $ given every wealthy person I’ve spoken to in the last few days has said they will leave the state. I believe them. Thoughtful taxes don’t actually drive people away, boneheaded taxes do” His hypocrisy is painful to read: Hanauer was a huge proponent for the capital gains tax. Of course he had already made his wealth so the tax wouldn't affect him as much as new entrepreneurs and small business owners making their wealth for the first time. But a wealth tax WOULD affect him and so now he opposes it. But even his blatant hypocrisy doesn't change the fact that he's correct: our state is going to face massive economic damage if this tax is passed and wealthy Washingtonians flee to states like Florida, Texas, Tennessee and New Hampshire. So how does Washington solve the huge budget deficit? Do what any responsible household would do when faced with a shortfall: cut spending, run things more efficiently, and focus on top priorities rather than blowing billions on ideological hobby horses. Will they do this? Unlikely. They've been in power for 40 straight years and their history shows they only have two tricks: 1. Tax more 2. Spend more