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October 3, 2006 |
Contact: John Barnes |
New Study Analyzes Initiative 920:
Seattle - Washington Policy Center, the state's premier public policy research organization, released a new study, "A Citizen's Guide to Initiative 920: A Measure to Repeal the Estate Tax." The statewide initiative will appear on the November ballot and ask voters to repeal the state's estate tax - a tax paid on the total value of a decedent's estate. Currently, estates with a value under $2 million are not subject to the estate tax, nor are the farms left to family members.
"The purpose of the study is to provide voters with a resource that will help them understand some of the issues and ramifications surrounding the debate of estate taxes," said study author Carl Gipson. "With two competing campaigns, it can get difficult to discern facts from hyperbole."
The study examines the history of the estate tax in Washington state. This includes the initiative in 1981 that essentially repealed the state's version of the estate tax, the 2005 Supreme Court decision that resulted in a $150 million refund to estate heirs and the new estate tax created by legislators shortly after the Supreme Court decision.
The report finds that:
- The number of estates affected by the state's estate tax hovers just above 200 per year, a fraction of the total number of estates passed on through death each year with an estimated revenue expected to generate $100 million in 2006, increasing slightly over the next few years;
- As a percentage of Gross State Product, state estate tax revenues account for 0.0005% of GSP;
- Oregon's estate tax rates are lower than Washington's and Idaho has no state estate tax;
- The revenue generated from the estate tax is less than one percent of all tax revenue collected per year and therefore is relatively insignificant. This percentage will continue to fall in future fiscal years.
"The estate tax has been a contentious issue for over one hundred years especially for small businesses," said WPC President Daniel Mead Smith. "There are many similarities between the federal and state estate tax debates which is why we chose to look at the entire policy discussion, although the focus remains on Washington state's issues."
A copy of the report is available online, along with a two-page Policy Note summary at www.washingtonpolicy.org.
For more information, or to schedule an interview with author Carl Gipson, contact Lyndsey Hartje at 206-937-9691 or email her at lhartje@washingtonpolicy.org.