How do we petition no income taxes for a state?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not just join Maryland? And then only a small portion downtown could be federal property (the mall, white house, congress, etc)

Maryland doesn’t want DC to join. Right now Annapolis and Baltimore are very happy being the seats of power in the state. If DC joins they lose their sway. And DC doesn’t want to join either... we like our unique identity.

Nobody wants DC.

DC wants DC.

-Maryland resident who supports DC statehood

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not just join Maryland? And then only a small portion downtown could be federal property (the mall, white house, congress, etc)

Maryland doesn’t want DC to join. Right now Annapolis and Baltimore are very happy being the seats of power in the state. If DC joins they lose their sway. And DC doesn’t want to join either... we like our unique identity.

Nobody wants DC.

DC wants DC.

-Maryland resident who supports DC statehood

Please don't involve yourself. Enjoy statehood, and anyone else who wants to can move and be your neighbor.

DC resident who does not support statehood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This proposal and even the idea of no federal income tax was floated 30 years ago by Jack Kemp / Libertarian Republicans, but shot down by many local activists as they feared it would create a "Monaco on the Potomac" of rich people 'living' (in name only) in DC and pricing everyone out of the housing market.

That seems like a fair worry. I do think city residents get a LOT of benefits from our relationship with the Feds. We have an equilibrium.

....like what?

I pay taxes, have no representation in Congress, and the executive branch can come assault me and other citizens for no reason, with no warning, in public. And whatever security I mistakenly thought existed to protect federal institutions apparently doesn't.

Kind of like the people screaming at diners in Adam's Morgan? Hyperbole much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I would be fine to trade federal income tax for no statehood. We already get TONS of handouts from the Feds in DC. Just add it to the tab! This DC Statehood thing is so misguided.

DC is a net maker, not taker "state" - we pay more into the federal treasury than we receive back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What handouts?

Because the Fed gov't is tax-exempt, they don't pay DC property tax. They own a huge amount of land/buildings, so they give DC some $$ to make up for it.

They, um, stopped doing this about 15 years ago. Try again. And....if they still did that, that would be property tax, but they don't so...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not just join Maryland? And then only a small portion downtown could be federal property (the mall, white house, congress, etc)

Maryland doesn't want us, and we don't want Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the commuter tax idea.

Not possible without statehood.

To me this is strangling the golden goose. DC would be nothing without the federal govt. and the business it brings. We should work towards tri-state agreeements (like everyone chipping in to metro) to increase flow between DC, MD. and VA. Would you like to be taxed when you drive out of DC to your Amazon job in Arlington or to visit the big box stores? Bad idea.

Commuter tax is an income tax. If you work in DC you would pay DC income taxes and then could deduct them from your Md or Va income taxes. Va and Md are okay with DC statehood nowcause many DC residents work outside the district. They would just retaliate to make up for lost revenue.

D.C., MD, and VA already have a tax reciprocity. You don't have to pay taxes to the different states if you live in one and work in one of the other jurisdictions. You just pay to your state.

Actually, if you live in DC but work in MD/VA, Annapolis and Richmond get the money. The same is not true for VA/MD resident who work in DC.

[Anonymous]

If you live in DC and work in MD/VA, you should only file for DC. Your MD/VA employer should withhold your DC taxes. If for some reason they don't, you can get a refund of whatever they withheld.

[Anonymous]

you get taxed somewhere. DC has some of the lowest real estate taxes in the country. But sales and income tax are higher. No income tax in FL but real estate taxes are insane. Since we aren;t a state we shouldnt be paying Fed taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the commuter tax idea.

Not possible without statehood.

To me this is strangling the golden goose. DC would be nothing without the federal govt. and the business it brings. We should work towards tri-state agreeements (like everyone chipping in to metro) to increase flow between DC, MD. and VA. Would you like to be taxed when you drive out of DC to your Amazon job in Arlington or to visit the big box stores? Bad idea.

Commuter tax is an income tax. If you work in DC you would pay DC income taxes and then could deduct them from your Md or Va income taxes. Va and Md are okay with DC statehood nowcause many DC residents work outside the district. They would just retaliate to make up for lost revenue.

D.C., MD, and VA already have a tax reciprocity. You don't have to pay taxes to the different states if you live in one and work in one of the other jurisdictions. You just pay to your state.

Actually, if you live in DC but work in MD/VA, Annapolis and Richmond get the money. The same is not true for VA/MD resident who work in DC.

Not true. DC cannot tax non-resident income—it’s prohibited by the feds. Va and Md grant reciprocity and also don’t tax non-resident income. People argue for DC statehood and believe DC can then enact a non-resident income tax (aka commuter tax) to make up for lost federal funding. However many DC residents work outside of DC so if Va or Md also enact a commuter tax, it might not be a net gain for DC.

[Anonymous]

People complaining about city services- I think we have great city services overall. Our libraries are awesome, our rec centers and public playgrounds are great, public pools and gyms, I’ve gotten amazing service from our public utilities, esp DC Water, the dump is really convenient and helpful, the Dept of Energy and Environment Water saving programs are great. Not that I don’t have complaints of course- dislike Pepco and DCRA is terrible but overall I think our city services are good especially compared to friends in other jurisdictions.

If it were up to me, I’d keep our income tax at the current levels if we get statehood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I would be fine to trade federal income tax for no statehood. We already get TONS of handouts from the Feds in DC. Just add it to the tab! This DC Statehood thing is so misguided.

DC is a net maker, not taker "state" - we pay more into the federal treasury than we receive back.

Yeah PP stating we get tons of free handouts- that’s just not true at all.

[Anonymous]

DC already has one of the highest "state" income taxes in the nation. No way that's changing if it becomes an actual state.

[Anonymous]

If DC residents don't want to pay federal income taxes, then let them stop. Just turn off the spigot of federal dollars that flow into the city to support services such as housing, education, and transportation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the commuter tax idea.

Not possible without statehood.

To me this is strangling the golden goose. DC would be nothing without the federal govt. and the business it brings. We should work towards tri-state agreeements (like everyone chipping in to metro) to increase flow between DC, MD. and VA. Would you like to be taxed when you drive out of DC to your Amazon job in Arlington or to visit the big box stores? Bad idea.

Commuter tax is an income tax. If you work in DC you would pay DC income taxes and then could deduct them from your Md or Va income taxes. Va and Md are okay with DC statehood nowcause many DC residents work outside the district. They would just retaliate to make up for lost revenue.

D.C., MD, and VA already have a tax reciprocity. You don't have to pay taxes to the different states if you live in one and work in one of the other jurisdictions. You just pay to your state.

Actually, if you live in DC but work in MD/VA, Annapolis and Richmond get the money. The same is not true for VA/MD resident who work in DC.

Not true. DC cannot tax non-resident income—it’s prohibited by the feds. Va and Md grant reciprocity and also don’t tax non-resident income. People argue for DC statehood and believe DC can then enact a non-resident income tax (aka commuter tax) to make up for lost federal funding. However many DC residents work outside of DC so if Va or Md also enact a commuter tax, it might not be a net gain for DC.

A DC commuter tax would make the city less competitive for private sector jobs.