Freedom Foundation statement in response to the Washington State Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision, announced this morning, to overturn a lower court ruling issued last spring and reinstate a capital gains tax that clearly violates the state constitution: 

“The Washington State Supreme Court’s stupefying decision today to subordinate the state constitution and the expressed will of the people to the political whims of Washington’s tax-and-spend liberals should outrage every Washingtonian. If the state’s lawmakers wanted to impose a tax like this, the law provides a time-tested process by which the constitution can be amended. Instead, they simply passed the buck to the state’s activist court, whose members this morning decided by a 7-2 margin to legislate from the bench.” 

“The unambiguous language of Washington’s constitution has prohibited property taxes imposed inequitably on state residents for a century, and previous court decisions have always regarded income – including investment income – as property. The Legislature’s decision to slap a phony excise tax label on their product for no other reason than to circumvent the constitution fooled no one but the justices.” 

“The story doesn’t end here. There are obvious violations of the U.S. Constitution in this ruling, and the Freedom Foundation, anticipating the Washington Supreme Court would once again go rogue, had already begun laying the groundwork for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The question isn’t whether this ruling will ultimately be overturned but how many millions of dollars will be illegally seized in the meantime.”