Amid the darkness, a few bright spots in the fight against inequality

If you’ve ever wondered whether our country has an inequality problem, this election should provide all the evidence you need. While billionaires used their financial power to support their preferred candidates, Americans left behind took out their frustration at the ballot box.

How do we begin this next chapter in the fight against extreme inequality? With Senate Republicans still lacking a filibuster-proof supermajority, the debate over expiring the Trump tax cuts next year could still offer an opportunity.

But it’s also likely that near-term policy progress will have to start at the city and state levels and then work its way up to the federal level. Three progressive tax victories last night are an encouraging sign.

Washington State’s Initiative 2109 was the most important tax-related ballot measure of the year. Hedge fund manager Brian Heywood financed this campaign in hopes of eliminating the state’s innovative capital gains tax on high earners.

With 62 percent of votes counted, the rollback proposal passed in a landslide of 63-37.

“This victory shows that advocating for a fairer tax code works,” Melinda Young-Flynn, communications director at the Washington State Budget and Policy Center, told Inequality.org.

“So many groups and individuals – including business owners, labor unions, teachers, racial justice advocates, parents, legislators and many more – have worked together for more than a decade to help the general public in our state connect with common sense to bring progressive taxes and the very real needs of our communities.”

Washington state’s landmark policy, introduced in 2022, imposes a 7 percent excise tax on capital gains from the sale of stocks, bonds and other assets that exceed $250,000 per year (excluding real estate sales). Who earns so much from their investments? Less than 1 percent of the state’s wealthiest residents.