Washington State proposes a “billionaire’s tax”

The state of Washington’s super billionaires, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, will have to pay taxes if Washington’s “billionaire tax” proposal is passed. The sponsors pointed out that during the Epidemic, many people had difficulty living, so they hoped to set fair tax provisions.  

  Bill Gates

  According to the proposal, the super-rich who own “extraordinary” intangible financial assets around the world, such as cash, publicly traded options, futures contracts, stocks and bonds, must be taxed at 1%, but their income is not included. If you have intangible assets of less than $1 billion, you are exempt from tax.

  Forbes magazine pointed out that more than a dozen of the world’s top billionaires have Washington State as their Home, including Bezos and Gates.

  According to the Washington State Department of Finance, there are about 100 taxpayers in the state who own more than $1 billion in property.

  State Rep. Noel Frame, a Democrat from the Seattle district, said the proposal is not intended to attack wealthy Washingtonians.

  She said the bill really isn’t aimed at the super-rich, but at working people in Washington state, where the working class is currently responsible for a large percentage of the state’s budget, whether it’s for public Education or public health. She noted, “It’s about tax fairness.”

  Jackson Brainerd, a senior policy expert with the National Conference of State Legislatures, said that although there have been proposals to tax the wealthy in the past, none of the states in the nation currently have a tax on the wealthy. If Washington State passes the proposal, it will be the first of its kind in the United States.

  If the proposal is passed, it will create $2.5 billion in tax revenue for the state of Washington each year.

  If the proposal is passed, the taxation period will be counted from January 1, 2022. So far, 25 Democratic members of the Washington State House of Representatives have cosigned Faramy’s proposal.