A tax that lands like a meteor A tax that lands like a meteor

The Seattle Times: Editorials & Opinion: A tax that lands like a meteor faults the "death tax" for all of its well known problems. But interestingly, Washington state has its own 19% tax on top of the maximum federal tax of 55%, resulting in a combined maximum tax of 74%. Scary. I have for a long time given Bill Gates a lot of credit for setting up to give over 99% of his huge fortune to charity. He makes a good case, absent this tax, but the prospect of giving almost 3/4 of it to the government (being a Wash. state resident), may have also factored into his decision.