Stephen Moore: Unleash Prosperity Hotline – If there were an award for the most counterproductive tax increase in modern history, it might be Washington state's estate tax. Enacted last year, the rate is 35%, which as even the liberal Seattle Times admits "is by far the highest in the U.S." That comes on top of a 40% federal estate tax.
So now, just as expected, wealthy Washington residents are racing out of the state to avoid nearly one-third of their lifetime earnings being confiscated by the government when they take their last breath.
The exodus has been so great the state's progressive legislature is having second thoughts.
The Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, admits that people are moving their legal residency to other states, to avoid Washington's estate tax. Why would anyone with more than $50 million in wealth die in Seattle when they can move to Utah or Montana or roughly 40 other states and face no death tax at all? ...
A bill to undo the estate tax increase, Senate Bill 6347, has been fast-tracked in the Senate with little fanfare.
Why would anyone with more than $50 million in wealth die in Seattle when they can move to Utah or Florida or Texas or several other dozen states and pay absolutely nothing?
