The Sunday Observer: Capital gains tax repeal campaign folds for the year

Plus some fresh campaign cash nuggets

In a highly unusual move, the most high-profile ballot initiative campaign in Washington this year, the challenge to the capital gains tax, quietly folded last month.

The initiative’s backers spent nearly $480,000 on lawyers, public-opinion research, and a variety of hired-gun consultants with a record of winning controversial, hard-fought campaigns. But their latest filing with the Public Disclosure Commission confirms that they never spent a dime on signature-gathering.

The campaign’s official line is they decided to let the legal challenge to the tax, which would rake 7 percent off of most¹ capital gains of more than $250K, play out in the courts. Douglas County Superior Court Judge Brian Huber ruled it an unconstitutional income tax earlier this year, and the matter is headed for the Supremes. The state argues it’s an “excise tax” on the transaction of selling assets.