Washington State should find a way to tax McMansions more since the mansion is rooted in the state and less likely to flee.

Some of Washington State's billionaires have moved to redder states, while leaving their mansions behind. They still use their Washington mansions as "vacation homes," so I hear. This state has just passed a millionaires tax and some folks fear it will lead to a flight out of state by most of our wealthy entrepreneurial class.

I think we should do more to tax the residential real estate left behind, but our state constitution prohibits progressive taxation of property. I looked up on Google AI that our state constitution has a uniformity requirement that blocks progressive taxes on property. This uniformity clause has also been used to stop progressive state income taxes as courts have defined income as property. If we could remove that clause, we could have more progressive property taxes and possibly even a progressive income tax in this state. I would be in favor of that.

Washington did pass a large capital gains tax applied to the most wealthy citizens. It's been allowed to stand as it's considered an excise tax (a tax on transactions such as sale of stock; like a sales tax). This tax is now in effect, but there is worry that its focus on business and stock is causing some business to flee from the state. Even lower middle class people do benefit, or at least consume from the jobs, products, services and tax revenues derived from a healthy business climate.

I think we could remove the barriers to progressive property taxes, especially residential property. I think that has been done in New York State where there is a new tax on second homes (like vacation homes rather than the primary residence) valued at over 5 million dollars. New Your City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is known for promoting that.