The News-Tribune: We in Washington Pay Highest Estate Tax in the Nation. There’s a Reason, Officials Say
media mention“Low income and middle income (earners) pay much higher proportions of their incomes than the wealthy, mostly because we don’t have the income and the capital gains tax, and we’re really dependent on the sales tax and the (business and occupation) tax,” said state Sen. Christine Rolfes, the Bainbridge Island Democrat who is chairwoman of the Senate Ways & Means Committee.
In 2018, Washington ranked first among states with the most regressive tax structure, according to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal think tank in Washington, D.C.