mspart

I can tell you that there is no income tax in the state of Washington due to the fact that they will not enact anything that is not progressive. The State Constitution prohibits the taxing of property (tangible or intangible) with anything other than a flat tax rate. ARTICLE VII - REVENUE AND TAXATION SECTION 1 TAXATION. The power of taxation shall never be suspended, surrendered or contracted away. All taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of property within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax and shall be levied and collected for public purposes only. The word "property" as used herein shall mean and include everything, whether tangible or intangible, subject to ownership. All real estate shall constitute one class: So the legislature passed a tax on capital gains. The State Supreme Court upheld it saying capital gains is not income. Yet every other state that has an income tax and the federal government define capital gains as income. If capital gains is income, then it cannot be taxed without taxing everyone's income at the same rate. When this passed the legislature, one legislator was heard to say that this is the first step to a state income tax. This was long in the making as I mentioned about the CA wealth tax. The WASC is full of progressives who decided to read the constitution in a different way that past SC decisions have. There is an initiative that will go on the ballot this year to repeal this tax, and there will be another initiative to prohibit the state, county, or city from imposing an income tax. NOTE: Seattle enacted such a tax some years ago and it was eliminated by the courts. Just a little relevant history that is happening right now for y'all to consider. Now to the question: 1. Now a flat tax has benefits because you know right away the tax you will pay. There is at least some concreteness to that, something you can plan for easily. Even a personal or couple exemption, you know pretty much how much you will pay. 2. A Progressive tax depends on your income and that can fluctuate so maybe not as much will you know how much your tax will be. Does anyone know what their fed income tax liability will be before doing the taxes on April 14th? I don't. So that is a problem. I don't have a huge philosophical reason to hate graduated income tax. But I think it needs to be relevant and meaningful. Having the top rate be 90% is ridiculous in my opinion. That is legal robbery. But no one would pay that because of all the tax loopholes that protect them. So it is not relevant or meaningful. There should never be a case where more than 50% of a person's income at any level should be required. That again is legal robbery at the point of a gun or prison. Not right in any sphere. But I think there is an equitable way to do the progressive taxation so not a hard no on this form. But I prefer something simpler. mspart

The longer I'm around, the more I feel this way. Those folks back in the day were not stupid. Not at all. mspart

I'll have to ask my wife if she wants to go. Probably not. Better seats at home really. Plus she is not that into sports. I watched wrestling last time almost exclusively and thought that I missed out on other events that I enjoy watching. No, marathon is not one of them! But I do like the track, field, swimming, gymnastics as well. Track bike racing is fun to watch as well. mspart

The point here is that the discussion is part of the legislative agenda. It is shelved for now. But there have been a lot of ideas that were shelved that we now are afflicted with. Mark my words, this is not the end of this idea. It will come back. mspart

There you go. I have a few cans and boxes of bolts and nuts and nails etc. My dad kept his dad's tool box with some really old tools from depression era Idaho. I have those now. My dad suggested donating them to a museum but I haven't gotten around to that. My dad made a table saw in college. Cast it out of aluminum. I have that, but it is extremely dangerous to use. We used it to finish the basement when I was a kid. I have a much more up to date table saw that works well. Tough to get rid of the old stuff I have to say. But my wife keeps pushing for stuff to go so I'm thinking it might be time. But dang, there's history there. mspart

Perhaps this can be answered with some more specifics. 1. How much money is wealth? Is this income or total net worth? Includes 401K? 2. How much is the tax rate? 3. When will it begin to be enforced? 2024 tax year, 2025 or 2026 tax year? If for 2024, that might be expost facto as the year has already started and that would be backdating a law and that is kind of out of bounds. Easily challenged. 4. How many people will this affect? mspart

That's a lot of rotten bubble gum to gnaw on!!! mspart

True that. It's them doo dads that make it all worthwhile. mspart

It's looking like it will stay that way for him. mspart

I can do that. I have a fairly large chain saw. Oh shoot, that will go the way of the dinosaur if they get their small motor law passed this year. I live in the woods with a lot of Cedar and Maple trees everywhere. They fall down on their own fairly regularly. mspart

I collect nuts and bolts just in case I need them some time. Same with electrical wiring and doo dads. I wouldn't say I collect them rather I hoard them. That's probably a more fair summary. However I do have 2 guitar amps, 1 bass amp, 1 bass, 2 electric guitars (one is on the market), and 2 acoustic guitars. None are high dollar units. The 2 guitar amps are Marshall, Code 50 and Origin 20 head paired with a speaker cabinet I bought and upgraded. One electric guitar is an Epiphone Les Paul (very nice I must say) but not high dollar. I also have an impressive amount of tools, most of which get used. Table Saw, Mitre saw, a bunch of hand tools. In fact, when it was below 20F on Saturday I was in the shed cutting boards for my wife with the mitre saw. Fingers nearly froze off. It is tough to work when your fingers fall off. mspart

I had the opportunity to work in So Cal. I did not take that offer and I'm glad I didn't. CA is a problem with ineffective government 'needing' ever more money to be ineffective with. WA is working their way to that level of ineptitude. This is the same WA that sent covid checks to Nigerian hackers. However, this year may turn things around temporarily here in WA. There are six ballot initiatives that got bi partisan petition signatures and strike at the heart of the progressive agenda that has been flourishing here. That plus a real governor's race where the big D candidate is not well liked. Reminds me of when Jesse Ventura won MN. The D who was the AG and felt like he was the deserving annnointed one (reminds me of Hillary), lost miserably taking 3rd. Our AG and front running D is in the same boat. Kind of like Biden is across the US. Hopefully the legislature gets the message with these initiatives and doesn't go too crazy this session. mspart

Al Gore buys his way out of it, just ask him. Huge estate running all kinds of power, enough to run a small town. But he buys carbon credits so he doesn't have to actually change his habits. A wonderful example for the rest of humanity. Just have enough money to buy your way out. Oh wait, most of humanity doesn't have that kind of cash readily available. Good thing he made his money so he can live in luxury while his policies force the rest of us to do without. Case in point - elimination of Natural gas feeds to new construction and elimination of gas powered lawn mowers and other small engine equipment for new sales (former implemented in WA, latter under consideration in WA in the legislature). mspart

We were vacationing in the phoenix area and my wife wanted to go to Sedona. Very picturesque there. It was n\ice. They have a zoo just out of town with zip lines going over it. You can zip above the lions etc. But to be honest, there just wasn't much else to do there. I think we ate at a nice Mexican place. The area is beautiful for sure, but no desire to move there. mspart

WA will be next no doubt. mspart

WA is cold and under a power consumption warning. Closing dams, and other electrical power plants seems a little premature. mspart

Hamas promised more of the same. I think Israel took them at their word. mspart

My question is this: Is this really the correct subject for this thread (I really enjoyed the AJ Ferrari era.)? How long has it been since anyone enjoyed that era? mspart

We tried that with the Olys in 2002 in Salt Lake. We lived in MN then and I had tickets. Then we moved to Hawaii and I sold the tickets because I thought it would be too expensive to travel. But I should have kept them in hind sight. They weren't for anything great. Nordic Ski jumping, Speed Skating, and I think snowboarding. Not finals or anything. We had younger kids at the time. Now they are all grown up so they can now make the same mistake I did. mspart

Yah, can you believe that? mspart

Agree! mspart

The leader of this particular committee literally offered Hunter to testify publicly after he was deposed in closed door session. Read the subpoena. Hunter literally today said he would go for private deposition. But his demand is a new subpoena. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4405382-hunter-biden-deposition-subpoena/ But it must be a new proper subpoena. He thinks he can dictate to Congress. What a farce. mspart

The left has been coming for Dr King for years. Content of character is out the window. Color of skin is what is matters. DEI is also what matters. mspart

What you are suggesting would be a breach of protocol. You would allow Hunter to dictate to the House Committee what they will and what they will not do. Got it. So if the shoe was on the other foot, of course you would not oppose disrupting a planned meeting to do something completely different. Hunter being there is not against the law but there is a time and a place and Hunter doesn't get to choose his time and place. He was not there to testify, but to disrupt. He is under subpoena and chose to ignore the law and do his own thing. mspart

WR, for item 2 I was responding to "I disagree on what it seems to be your stance and who and who should not have the opportunity to 'live the american dream' ". That sounds to me that you question anyone who would restrict immigration because they all just want the american dream. That's where I got that. If that is not what you meant, then maybe I misinterpreted your statement. I agree, not much more to say. Have a good day and a fun time contemplating retirement in NC. mspart