Regressive Business Taxes in Washington State (Seattle, Kittitas: sale, 2015, brokers)
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Washington has a business and occupational tax that levied on gross receipts. Businesses hate the tax since they cannot "hide" earnings by taking deductions for things like Mariner or Seahawk tickets and other toys.
However, the B&O tax "favors" certain businesses while punishing others with higher than normal tax rates. There are many "hidden" tax benefits, but this just looks at the out front tax rates for various businesses. Remember they are on gross receipts....so a dollar is a dollar and IF YOU ARE PAYING AT A HIGHER RATE YOU ARE SUBSIDIZING OTHER BUSINESSES.
Basic rate is .00484.
Here are the businesses that get significant tax breaks.
At 26% of an typical businesss......Parimutuel Wagering (horse racing)
At 29%.....................................Slaughteri ng, processing perishable meat, manufacturing wheat into flour, soybean & canola processing, prescription drug warehousing, dairy products, bio/alcohol fuel, processing of dried peas,
At 56%.....................................travel agent commision, tour operators, international charter freight brokers, stevedoring, licensed boarding homes
At 60%.....................................aviation repair services, manufacturing and wholesaling of commercial airplanes, components, or aerospace tooling.
At 70%.....................................extracting , sale of, processing for hire, and manufacturing of Timber or Wood products.
At 97%.....................................cleanup of radioactive waste for the federal waste for US Government. Retailing.
These are the businesses that Washington state wants to discourage by punative taxes.
At 185%..................................Non-Manufacturing Aerospace Product Development (Services??)
At 310%..................................Public and Non-profit hospitals
At 370%..................................All other Service businesses
At 398%.................................Gambling Contests (50,000 a year or greater)
At 682%.................................Radioactive Waste Disposal
There are other hidden benefits, but really too numerous to mention. For example, a friend has a software business and he pays FIVE times the rate that MicroSoft pays.
With the primary on August 7th....this might be an interesting question to ask people running for state office. Why are the tax rates so different??
Does Washington state really want to tax non-profit hospitals while encouraging horse racing??
We have "the best government money can buy". Now you know who did the buying.
I was really surprised when I moved here and found that business is taxed in this way... it seems to me that it discourages enterprise and makes it more difficult for small business. And I have found that business owners here are more open to cash payments and barter than in other places I have lived.
Since I have little trust in government picking winners and losers without unintended consequences I would rather see more of a flat tax on income.
That means every business in Washington state should pay at the same RATE than Boeing. With all the tax benefits Boeing pays at less than 50% rate than other businesses pay. Of course, they then complain that state taxpayers are unwilling to fund higher education for the workers they need!!! Wow!! Aren't they so special??
Same thing would happen with the flat rate income tax. If Washington state cannot get a flat rate for businesses you can imagine would the tax code would look like if Washington had an income tax. That is why the voters keep turning down the income tax. At least with the B&O tax someday fairness might become an issue.
Of course, we now have a candidate running for Senate talking about all the tax breaks she got for Boeing. The funny part is that ad is running in heavy rotation in eastern Washington. Boeing has no manufacturing operations in eastern Washington and minimal investment in other operations. Does she have a clue that it just makes people mad over here?
That means every business in Washington state should pay at the same RATE than Boeing. With all the tax benefits Boeing pays at less than 50% rate than other businesses pay. Of course, they then complain that state taxpayers are unwilling to fund higher education for the workers they need!!! Wow!! Aren't they so special??
Same thing would happen with the flat rate income tax. If Washington state cannot get a flat rate for businesses you can imagine would the tax code would look like if Washington had an income tax. That is why the voters keep turning down the income tax. At least with the B&O tax someday fairness might become an issue.
Of course, we now have a candidate running for Senate talking about all the tax breaks she got for Boeing. The funny part is that ad is running in heavy rotation in eastern Washington. Boeing has no manufacturing operations in eastern Washington and minimal investment in other operations. Does she have a clue that it just makes people mad over here?
This comment is off-topic, but your last sentence reminds me of the Dino Rossi billboards in Eastern Washington during the last gubernatorial election, which had the slogan "Don't let Seattle steal this election!" There was an article in the Seattle Times (I believe), that was reprinted around the state concerning the then-mayor of Seattle noticing those billboards while vacationing in Eastern WA. Of course, he was "aghast", and "couldn't believe" that the Republicans would dare put up a sign like that, even though it's not a secret (or a recent development) that the political ideals of King and Pierce counties are almost always in stark contrast to the rest of the state.
Are these kinds of comments just poorly-vetted political posturing, or are they really that clueless about us on the "unimportant" side of the state?
That's not going to happen. Western Washington has finally realized how dependent they are on eastern Washington.
If you look at the tax rate list. Notice that it is the western Washington companies that get all the tax breaks. We are talking serious money. Enough to fund higher education, state parks, and other important government services.
Go ask the politicians running for office if they support the "Boeing Rule". That is no small business should pay higher rates than Boeing.
Western Washington isn't dependent on Eastern Washington - it's the other way around. The links are to a Stranger article, but the source for the data is the state Office of Financial Management
If we were two separate states the counties on the west side of the mountains would have a lot more money available to spend on themselves. As it is now, the east side counties are heavily subsidized by the west.
That's not going to happen. Western Washington has finally realized how dependent they are on eastern Washington.
If you look at the tax rate list. Notice that it is the western Washington companies that get all the tax breaks. We are talking serious money. Enough to fund higher education, state parks, and other important government services.
Go ask the politicians running for office if they support the "Boeing Rule". That is no small business should pay higher rates than Boeing.
I meant culturally.
Neither side seems to be able to relate adequately to the other (i.e. other planets).
Western Washington isn't dependent on Eastern Washington - it's the other way around. The links are to a Stranger article, but the source for the data is the state Office of Financial Management
If we were two separate states the counties on the west side of the mountains would have a lot more money available to spend on themselves. As it is now, the east side counties are heavily subsidized by the west.
I have never before heard of "The Stranger", but it is obviously a very-thinly-veiled liberal rag trying to masquerade as real data - and they make little attempt to hide that fact in their biased captions.
Take a look at this report by the WSDOT (i.e. an actual, unbiased source). At the very least, when it comes to transportation, it bucks your data trend - in that I see no obvious trend towards Eastern WA's tax dependence on Western WA. The bar graph on page 10, for example, says quite the opposite (Kittitas is the only non-Western WA county that contributes less toward transportation than they get back).
I have never before heard of "The Stranger", but it is obviously a very-thinly-veiled liberal rag trying to masquerade as real data - and they make little attempt to hide that fact in their biased captions.
Take a look at this report by the WSDOT (i.e. an actual, unbiased source). At the very least, when it comes to transportation, it bucks your data trend - in that I see no obvious trend towards Eastern WA's tax dependence on Western WA. The bar graph on page 10, for example, says quite the opposite (Kittitas is the only non-Western WA county that contributes less toward transportation than they get back).
The information contained in the links that sean98125 posted is actual and unbiased. The source is listed in each link...
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