Taxing the Rich

In this chapter the authors further explore how public attitudes about inequality shape support for redistributive tax policies by taking advantage of Washington State’s highly redistributive initiative Proposition 1098. This proposal, dubbed the millionaire’s tax, allowed citizens to vote directly to increase taxes on the wealthy, in the context of a policy debate that very much focused on the growth of income inequality. This episode provides us a rare opportunity to understand how inequality shapes individual voter attitudes toward redistribution and increasing taxes on the wealthy in the context of specific policy debates in which discussion of inequality features prominently, which has been very rare in recent decades. While most states are unlikely adopt highly progressive tax policy in the near future, the authors show that recent trends in initiative states to push for higher taxes on the rich can provide insight into the future of state tax policy.