If you need another reason to dislike Initiative 1053, here’s one: it would make it nearly impossible for Washington’s legislature to close any of the loopholes that riddle the state’s tax code like Swiss cheese.
Over in the Twittersphere, I’m cataloguing some of the more absurd loopholes — some big and some small—in the hopes that it will drive the point home. But in case you want the 10 second version, here are the Top Ten Tax Tweets so far (now with hyperlinks):
10.) $378 million for polluters to “compensate” them for the costs of obeying the law.
9.) $13 million to “encourage” the timber industry. They need encouragement?
8.) $11k for junk mail dealers.
7.) $6,000 exemption for cigarette wholesalers.
6.) $3.5M loophole for 2 aluminum companies. One is Fortune 500, the other doesn’t actually produce aluminum.
5.) Tax-free status for laser interferometer gravitational wave observatories. Thank goodness!
4.) Bull semen with $435k sales tax loophole.
3.) $217k in sales tax exemption so Big Chicken can replace older hens with “genetically improved” chicks.
2.) $11 million tax break for private airplane owners. Regular property owners pick up the $11 million for the jet set.
1.) Estimated $5 million for Wyoming coal burned by Canadian multinational in Centralia. Biggest GHG polluter in WA.
You’ll find many more over here.
