WA State GOP Encourages “Civil Disobedience” Toward New Tax in Seattle

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By Kody Fairfield

“…but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

– Benjamin Franklin

The Republican Party in the state of Washington has begun to call for citizens of Seattle to participate in an act of “civil disobedience” toward a new income tax which the political organizations believes to be illegal.

Fox News is reporting that Seattle city council passed a tax on income which would require residents to pay a 2.25 percent tax if they are a single filer and make more than $250,000 annually or file jointly and make more than $500,000.

The Mayor of Seattle, Ed Murray, told Fox that his city’s goal is to “replace our regressive tax system with a new formula for fairness while ensuring Seattle stands up to President Trump’s austere budget that cuts transportation, affordable housing, healthcare and social services.”

The addition to a federal income tax on the citizens of Seattle has been called  “a new formula for fairness,” by local lawmakers, but its critics, such as the state Republican Party, clearly feel otherwise and are calling for citizens to “forcefully resist,” reports Fox.

The state Republicans argue that the state’s strict limits on taxes, such as the prohibition of taxes on net income and requirement for cities to get permission to tax residents, make this new imposition on income unconstitutional, said Fox.

“This law is unconstitutional, illegal, and against the voter’s will expressed nine times at the ballot box and it deserves nothing less than civil disobedience – that is, refusal to comply, file or pay,” the Washington State Republican Party said in a written statement, reported Fox.

The Washington Policy Center, a free market think tank, has also come out against the tax and its constitutionality saying:

“The city’s decision to pass a bill that violates state law and supreme court precedents teaches the public that it is acceptable to ignore the law if it is to your advantage. The violation is so obvious that city leaders know they are inviting a lawsuit, as citizens seek to defend their rights under state law and the state constitution.”

Dann Smith, president of WPC and a lifelong Seattle resident, according to Fox, said it’s “frustrating to see the Seattle City Council choose to waste taxpayer dollars on lawsuits for an income tax that is not needed.”

Another conservative think tank, The Freedom Foundation, is reportedly ready to take the legislation to court arguing that the tax could become an “open the door to more taxes in the future.”

“No matter who starts out paying it, evSawant’s office for comment were not returned. ryone will eventually suffer,” CEO Tom McCabe said in a statement, reports Fox.

Fox reports that though the new tax in the city appears to fail the standards put forth by the state, lawmakers, such as  Councilmember Kshama Sawant, and other proponents, aren’t backing down signaling that they are ready to go to legal battle.

When the bill was signed, Sawant asked supporters,” If we need to pack the courts, will you be there with me?” reports Fox.

Fox News explains that analysts at the WPC have noted that the Washington Supreme Court ruled in 1951 to invalidate the income tax. Furthermore, a law passed in 1984 which prohibited any city or county from levying a tax on net income.

The state’s voters have rejected the idea of an income tax nine separate times. Washington voters did approve an income tax in 1932, but the state Supreme Court ruled the measure was unconstitutional, explained Fox.

Fox News explained that attempts to reach Sawant’s office for comment were not returned.

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