In this special bonus episode of WA Possible, April Dickinson, communications specialist at the Washington State Budget and Policy Center, is joined by her colleague Senior Fellow Andy Nicholas to talk about why the capital gains excise tax is awesome for Washington.
In a decisive 7-2 ruling in March 2023, the Washington State Supreme Court upheld the state capital gains excise tax against efforts by self-interested millionaires and billionaires to overturn it. We’re thrilled that the revenue generated by this new tax on the wealthiest Washingtonians will help support kids and families across the state and we are so proud of every person and organization involved over the years for making this victory for tax justice happen.
The effort to pass a capital gains excise tax is part of a larger movement to fix our inequitable, worst in the nation tax code. We’re so excited to talk about what is possible for the people in our state as we’re starting to make progress on making our tax code for work everyone.
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CREDITS:
Theme music by Revanth Akella
Logo by Eileen Jimenez
GUEST BIOS:
Andy Nicholas (he/him) is a senior fellow at the Washington State Budget and Policy Center. He specializes in state budget and tax policy. Since joining the Budget and Policy Center in 2009, he has served on a Legislative Task Force on Tax Preference Reform and has conducted numerous analyses of Washington state’s tax code.
Andy previously worked at the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, where he performed extensive research on state fiscal policy. Additionally, Andy taught English in China. He holds a Master of Public Policy from American University’s School of Public Affairs.
RESOURCES:
National Bureau of Economic Research paper on racial wealth gap.
Amicus Brief on the racial justice impact of the capital gains tax.
How WA state lawmakers could generate $7.2 billion in revenue over the next four years.
The Budget and Policy Center's work on the capital gains excise tax.
Key partners on the path to the capital gains tax victory:
TRANSCRIPT: (Coming soon)