6346-S.E AMH WALJ KRNG 177

ESSB 6346 - H AMD TO H AMD (H-3793.3/26) 2578

NOT ADOPTED 03/09/2026

On page 1, beginning on line 3 of the striking amendment, strike all of section 1 and insert the following:

"NEW SECTION. Sec. INTENT. The fourteenth amendment to the Washington Constitution provides that all taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of property, and that "property," as therein used, shall mean and include everything, whether tangible or intangible, subject to ownership. Regardless of the precise definition of "income," it certainly is something. Whether it be tangible or intangible, it surely is subject to ownership. The income that an individual earns or receives is his, not someone else's. Having earned and received it, he is legally entitled to keep it, or else to use and dispose of it. In other words, he is entitled to exercise the rights of ownership over it. The word "everything," of course, comprehends and includes the word something. It is even broader than the word anything. When we say everything, it is impossible to conceive of something or anything else beyond that. Had the constitution said that "property" shall include something or anything subject to ownership, those terms would certainly have included income. Did the constitution say less when it used the word everything? The question answers itself."

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