Washington State Supreme Court sets January 26 hearing for capital gains income tax lawsuit

WPC: The state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the capital gains income tax lawsuit on January 26, 2023, at 9 a.m. The case will be heard in Tumwater due to renovations at the Temple of Justice. On March 1 of this year, an Inslee-appointed Superior Court judge ruled that the capital gains income tax “is declared unconstitutional and invalid and, therefore, is void and inoperable as a matter of law.”

The capital gains income tax being ruled unconstitutional by the Superior Court surprised no one. In fact, legislative public records after the March ruling included these comments from supporters of the tax:

• Rep. Frame: “Also, we fully expected the Douglas County judge would rule against us and always knew this would have to go up to the Supreme Court no matter what happened at the Superior Court.”
   
• Speaker Jinkins: “They forum shopped well. I would have been shocked with any different outcome.”

Staff at the Department of Revenue (DOR) also were not surprised by the ruling saying in public records:

“So…. We will keep going obvi, but scrap the whole thing when the supreme court weighs in? Also, this was no surprise.”

“Yes, no surprise. I believe we keep plugging away until we receive direction to cease.”

“We are still going to act like it will be rolling out in December, so please don’t let your attention or your commitment wane while working on Capital Gains. If it is decided later to be unconstitutional, then we will work to pull it out. But until then we are ‘A GO’ for December.” more