Washington should follow Minnesota’s lead and lower sales tax on all goods affected by tariffs

https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/1ig24vx/washington_should_follow_minnesotas_lead_and/

created by Firm-Spinach-3601 on 02/02/2025 at 17:16 UTC

3929 upvotes, 112 top-level comments (showing 25)

And make up the difference with a wealth tax

Comments

Comment by scrufflesthebear at 02/02/2025 at 17:33 UTC

1391 upvotes, 7 direct replies

I think WA is going to need all of its current tax revenue given the games that could be played with the flows of federal money.

Comment by [deleted] at 02/02/2025 at 17:21 UTC

234 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Minnesota already has state income tax

Comment by Lakelifeflamingo at 02/02/2025 at 17:37 UTC*

360 upvotes, 9 direct replies

WA state is in a $10B deficit. They will not lower sales taxes and likely already anticipated lower spending by consumers. WA need all the taxes they can collect at this point.

Comment by agdtinman at 02/02/2025 at 19:51 UTC

28 upvotes, 0 direct replies

WA shouldn’t do anything to help Trump’s idiocracy.

Let people see the direct results of Republican policies.

Comment by LessKnownBarista at 02/02/2025 at 17:19 UTC

68 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Shifting even more economic power to the Trump regime doesn't seem like a positive path forward

Comment by sarhoshamiral at 02/02/2025 at 17:32 UTC

119 upvotes, 2 direct replies

And then what? Which state services do you want to reduce as a result, which will likely cost you the saving you get from reducing sales tax.

Also anyone who benefits greatly from sales tax reduction would be ones that also likely utilizing state services. So such an action would hurt poor people most.

Comment by gomicao at 02/02/2025 at 21:12 UTC

9 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I feel like they should let people cook for a while, there are so many conservative voters outside of the I-5 corridor/the east. If they don't feel the pinch, they will claim no harm came from them, while still blaming the people who actually passed policies that saved them from that harm.

Comment by yoppee at 02/02/2025 at 22:47 UTC

7 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Unfortunately this is a dumb idea and only shields everyone from the horrible person they voted for

No Washington should not give up tax money because America voted for Trump.

Comment by cannelbrae_ at 02/02/2025 at 17:37 UTC

5 upvotes, 1 direct replies

How is Minnesota tracking it? Just looking at final products at retail and not raw material turned into products?

Given the tariffs maybe be changing quickly and broadly, it seems like this would be very implement.

And that’s without getting into offsetting the impact here as we lack an existing form of tax to offset it.

Comment by Michaelmrose at 02/02/2025 at 20:23 UTC

5 upvotes, 0 direct replies

This is a crazy stupid idea. The first thing that would happened is the courts invalidate your wealth tax but then you've already passed a sales tax decrease resulting in insolvency.

Comment by frommethodtomadness at 02/02/2025 at 21:29 UTC

7 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Every item that is hit by the Trump Sales Tax needs to break out the charge being passed on as a separate line item on the receipt and label it "Trump Tariff Tax" or similar.

Comment by buildyourown at 02/02/2025 at 17:34 UTC

16 upvotes, 0 direct replies

The state is kind out of money already. Not sure how this would help any of us.

Comment by 1000FacesCosplay at 02/02/2025 at 19:38 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Great idea, fuck over the remaining state safety net.

Comment by Visual_Octopus6942 at 02/02/2025 at 17:18 UTC

122 upvotes, 7 direct replies

Let me check with Seattle Neolibs…

They said nah.

In all seriousness, WA really does need to get serious about being progressive over liberal.

Comment by Dunter_Mutchings at 02/02/2025 at 17:47 UTC

12 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Oh cool, more short term populist nonsense. Just what we need right now.

Comment by runkittygogogo at 02/02/2025 at 20:29 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Americans need to suffer the consequences of their decisions or they'll never change.

Comment by nicannkay at 02/02/2025 at 22:20 UTC

4 upvotes, 0 direct replies

So funneling all the money to ~~Trump~~ Musk instead of your state… what could go wrong? 😑

Comment by BillNyetheImmortal at 02/02/2025 at 20:27 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

This seems like a bad way to funnel money to the federal government and not the state

Comment by Mountain-Tea6875 at 02/02/2025 at 21:17 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Lmao imagine being American and supporting tarrifs

Comment by TheOpeningBell at 02/02/2025 at 22:03 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Lololololol

Because WA doesn't have enough taxes. Wow.

Comment by goosse at 02/02/2025 at 22:17 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

No we are in debt lol

Comment by Ibraheem_moizoos at 02/02/2025 at 22:35 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

They should also follow their lead by getting the Seahawks into the playoffs.

Comment by goomyman at 03/02/2025 at 00:14 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Where does the tax dollars come from to offset the tariffs. This whole tariff thing is dumb as F.

The fastest way for tariffs to end is for people to suffer and for it to become politically negative for republicans.

Do I want people to suffer. No. But I don’t know how else people will learn.

We tried telling them. And these tariffs are a direct campaign promise. So they knew.