Cap gains tax repeal campaign stirs

Plus Ferguson's money and more Inslee lobbying

The dormant campaign to repeal the capital gains tax showed some signs of life last month. 

Per its most recent filing with the Public Disclosure Commission, the prosaically named Repeal the Capital Gains Income Tax committee spent $22,000 on polling with Moore Information and $20,000 with Peri Hall and Associates in May. 

The money to Hall is particularly noteworthy. She’s emerged as the Dark Queen¹ of initiative consultants in recent years, the operative deep-pocketed interests turn to when they want to get something done – or something killed – via the ballot box. 

Image by Shutterstock

Here’s why you should care about this: We last heard from this campaign about a year ago when it folded a bid to overturn the tax in the face of bonkers-expensive signature-gathering costs that would have driven the price of just getting to the ballot in the $8 million range. Its wealthy backers decided to wait for the Supremes to rule on its constitutionality. That went poorly.