Further briefs were filed Friday in the capital gains tax lawsuit (summary judgment hearing is February 4). I will address the complainants’ case in a separate blog, but first I wanted to highlight a shocking request made by the Attorney General. The state attorney general is asking the judge to remove from the court the registration of my capital gains tax return, including all correspondence I have had with the IRS and state tax offices at across the country describing a capital gains tax as an income tax.

Extract from the new brief of the Attorney General:

“Complainants generally rely on the Mercier Declaration for their statements of ‘authority’ outside the State. But the Mercier statement consists of correspondence collected from various non-judicial state and federal employees across the country, all of whom are inadmissible hearsay. “A court cannot take inadmissible evidence into account when ruling on a motion for summary judgment.” Dunlap v. Wayne, 105 Wn.2d 529, 535, 716 P.2d 842 (1986). The defendants request that the Mercier declaration and its exhibits be struck out in their entirety.

Who knew that a letter from the IRS, documented emails with state tax departments and the Washington state public records were hearsay?

This is information that the Attorney General does not want the court to consider or authorize on the record of the case. From my statement:

“In April 2017, I interviewed each US state’s tax authorities to determine whether the state taxed capital gains as income tax or as excise tax. If I did not receive a written response from a state’s revenue department, I would follow up over the phone for a response from an appropriate official responsible and knowledgeable about state tax policy and administration and included those responses. in my poll results. A true copy of all written responses I received is attached as Exhibit B. Responses for each state are summarized in the table below. . .

While some jurisdictions responded that they did not tax capital gains at all, no respondent state taxed capital gains through an excise tax or in any way other than through an excise tax. an income tax.

Attachment C is a true and correct copy of an email and Washington Department of Revenue invoice report attachment for ESSB 5096, received in response to a public registration request.

Attached is D a certified true copy of a September 25, 2018 letter from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to U.S. Congressman Dan Newhouse that I received in response to a public registration request.

In addition to asking the court to strike my statement, the Attorney General adds in his brief:

“First, whether the capital gains excise tax is a property tax under the Washington Constitution is a matter for Washington law, and not a question determined by the vagaries of tax laws. ‘other jurisdictions. . . The court does not need to follow the plaintiffs to their rabbit hole “other jurisdictions”.

Sometimes you should take the telltale red pill instead of the blue pill which confirms the fantasy and see how deep the rabbit hole will take you to the truth.

As the IRS unequivocally puts it:

“You ask if capital gains tax is considered excise duty or income tax? It is an income tax. More specifically, capital gains are assimilated to income by the tax code and taxed as such.

By asking the court to totally ignore what the IRS and every other state across the country is saying about capital gains tax, it’s clear the state can’t handle the truth.

Additional information
Briefs filed in capital gains tax lawsuit
First amicus case filed in capital gains tax case
BIAW and Cattlemen’s Association file capital gains tax amicus
Capital Gains Tax Quotes – Who Said It?
Capital Gains Tax Interview with University of Washington Tax Expert Professor Schumacher
Tax Foundation: Why Washington State Cannot Claim Its Capital Gains Tax to Be an Excise Tax