Evaluating Washington’s Proposed Millionaires’ Tax
Washington lawmakers are holding their first hearing on long-anticipated legislation that would create a new 9.9 percent tax on income over $1 million.
6 min read
Expert
Jared Walczak
Senior Fellow
Jared Walczak is a Senior Fellow at the Tax Foundation, where he spent five years as Vice President of State Projects, and president of Walczak Policy Consulting.
Jared has written or co-written tax reform guides for more than a dozen states and has served as the principal author of the Tax Foundation’s State Tax Competitiveness Index and Location Matters. He is also a regular on the conference circuit and has testified before legislatures in 35 states. His efforts have been instrumental in securing tax reform in many states, including sweeping reforms in Iowa and Louisiana, along with substantive reforms in Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming, among others.
Jared also serves as a member of the faculty of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation, sits on the state tax advisory board of the Institute for State Policy Leaders, and contributes to Tax Notes State magazine. He is the author of the “SALT Road” Substack, a free newsletter on state and local tax policy.
Latest Work
The State Income Tax Divergence
Lawmakers in many states continue to pursue additional income tax relief, while their counterparts elsewhere pursue the opposite goal.
3 min read
New CEA Report Dramatically Underestimates the Cost of Replacing State Income Taxes
While the CEA’s analysis of the benefits of reduced reliance on income taxes is sound, its revenue replacement estimates are not. The actual revenue replacement rate could be as high as 17.51 percent.
6 min read
A 9.25 Percent Top Income Tax Rate Would Drive Jobs, Investment, and Economic Opportunity Out of Michigan
Michigan’s proposed 5 percent income surtax on high earners, yielding a top marginal rate of 9.25 percent, is also a tax on the small businesses that employ nearly 2 million Michiganders.
25 min read
The Proposed California Wealth Tax Is Far Higher than 5 Percent
The 2026 Billionaire Tax Act, a California ballot initiative, would ostensibly impose a one-time tax of 5 percent on the net worth of the state’s billionaires. Due, however, to aggressive design choices and possible drafting errors, the actual rate on taxpayers’ net worth could be dramatically higher.
18 min read
Proposed Washington Income Tax Would Yield a Top Rate of More Than 18 Percent
A proposed “millionaire’s tax” in Washington State would yield the highest combined state and local top rate in the country.
6 min read
Wyoming Attracts Considerable Data Center Investment—but Could Easily Lose It
While Wyoming is outcompeting California in attracting data centers due to affordability and sound tax policy, lawmakers should avoid imposing discriminatory sales tax on data centers’ machinery and equipment (M&E) purchases.
6 min read
Chicago Bears Threaten Relocation over Illinois Taxes
The Chicago Bears are threatening to relocate from Illinois to Indiana as they negotiate over taxes and public financing. Illinois’ uncompetitive and burdensome tax environment makes it difficult for the NFL team to operate.
4 min read
State Taxation of Data Centers
Data centers face high tax burdens and are particularly substantial contributors to local coffers, but poor tax structure can drive these operations to other locations and deprive local governments of a major revenue stream.
22 min read
2025 Tax Review | What OBBBA Changed, the Impact of Tariffs, and What’s Next
In this episode, we break down what the OBBBA did, walk through our projections, and zoom out to other defining fights of 2025: Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, the Supreme Court challenge over presidential tariff power, and the growing wave of property tax revolts across the states.
Some States Will Tax NCTI Despite Prior Votes to Exempt International Income
Several states have decoupled from GILTI by name rather than statutory citation. Lawmakers in those states should amend these statutes to ensure that their tax code does not accidentally incorporate a much more aggressive tax on international income than the tax from which they previously decoupled.
6 min read
New Jersey Considers Deeply Flawed Data Tax in Waning Days of Session
New Jersey’s proposed data tax on corporations is based on dubious premises and made worse by its poor design.
5 min read
States Don’t Need to Penalize Research & Development to Preserve Corporate Income Tax Revenue
Some state lawmakers are considering decoupling from the pro-growth expensing provisions of the OBBBA due to revenue concerns, but it is valuable to recognize just how much the corporate tax base has expanded over the past decade.
6 min read
2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index
The State Tax Competitiveness Index enables policymakers, taxpayers, and business leaders to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare. While there are many ways to show how much state governments collect in taxes, the Index evaluates how well states structure their tax systems and provides a road map for improvement.
122 min read
The State Tax Competitiveness Index Is Your Guide to Economic “Wins Above Replacement”
Taxes are an important part of the mix, and modernizing a state’s tax structure helps position it for growth. States that rank better on the Index have better-structured tax codes, and states with better-structured tax codes get Wins Above Replacement.
5 min read
Illinois Lawmakers Are Attempting to Rush Through a Harmful Tax on Unrealized Gains in 48 Hours
Illinois lawmakers are attempting to rush through a harmful mark-to-market capital gains tax proposal that captures unrealized gains.
7 min read
The State Flat Tax Revolution: Where Things Stand Today
The past four years have brought significant focus on state income tax reform and relief, and with that, something of a flat tax revolution.
11 min read
Can We Replace the Property Tax?
With property tax bills on the rise, homeowners are searching for answers—and some even want to abolish the tax altogether. In this episode, we break down why property taxes are increasing, common but flawed solutions, and why the property tax remains an economically efficient revenue source.
There’s No Good Way to Pay for Property Tax Repeal
Backfilling forgone local property tax revenue through new state taxes is difficult because it dramatically shifts overall tax burdens, undermines local accountability, and cannot easily adjust for changing population mixes.
20 min read
Chiefs Players Will Save $287,000 in Income Tax by Playing in Brazil Rather Than California
When the Kansas City and Los Angeles squads face off in São Paulo, the players will owe Brazil’s nonresident income tax on the share of income they earned there, while California will lose out on the nonresident income taxes that Chiefs players ordinarily would have remitted in what is nominally a Chargers home game.
5 min read