Investing in Public Goods with Progressive Revenue

Progressive Income Tax

Just a few months after EOI and the Trump-Proof Seattle Coalition proposed a tax on the wealthy, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed a progressive income tax on July 10, 2017 to help finance public services. The legislation would have placed a 2.25 percent tax rate on income over $250,000 a year. Due to legal decisions, this legislation is on hold, while EOI is working with partners to develop a 1% income tax in the city of Seattle and other cities. At the state level, EOI is working on a wealth tax, an inheritance tax, a tax on corporate compensation, and numerous other progressive tax measures, including a reformed and more robust state estate tax.

Progressive State Estate Tax

Congress voted in June 2001 to phase out the federal estate tax over the following decade. In response, EOI worked with Bill Gates Sr. in successfully urging the state legislature to pass a standalone state estate tax, with revenue dedicated to K-12 schools, higher education, and early learning. In 2006, our policy research and media outreach helped win the fight to preserve Washington’s estate tax, defeating a statewide initiative to repeal it. Through this legislative action and popular vote, Washington has the most progressive state estate tax in the nation – in fact it is our only progressive tax.