WA state is #24? That's kind of frightening, given that we have no state income tax.

I just moved from Alaska (#50) to Richland Wa (#24. I complain all the time. My son says, "Dad, you don't know how good you had it in Alaska." I reply that I know how good I had it in Alaska but had no idea it was this bad in Washington. In January I paid a $25 tax on my heating bill. They don't tax food because food is a necessity. Apparently they don't care if you freeze to death. Washington taxes everything. They have a severe budget problem but it's not due to lack of revenues. It's due to lack of spending restraint. It's this kind of people in Seattle that always vote for the latest revenue "enhancement."

Jason Buckley needed to immediately control his addiction to sugary sodas and begin exercising. But that's hard to do while living in tent city- where donated bakery treats are plentiful and daily exercise isn't a priority for those coping with poverty.

To help Buckley and others living in the temporary homeless camp, Eastside churches have donated $2,800 for short-term club memberships at Kirkland's 24-Hour Fitness. Buckley is one of 26 men and women at the homeless camp who exercise using those donated memberships.

Imagine: “Hey man, put down the eclair for a sec. Want to do some push-ups?”
“Can’t... too poor. Trying to cope.”

Washington: where the homeless struggle to overcome the scourge of obesity and a surfeit of free bakery treats.

You wait. Coupla' more news articles like this and they'll be proposing a new tax to help the homeless. It's time to vote the spenders out. If only Washington had honest elections.

But look at all those gold-plated services our DC taxes buy. The world-class public schools alone are worth the ranking, no?

Massachusetts has had Republican governors for 15 consecutive years. Granted, they are of the moderate variety (Bill Weld, Mitt Romney), but still, better than a Democrat. What's weird is that while the voters trust a Republican governor(more than a Democrat, that is to say -- Massachusetts voters trust no one), the Democratic majorities in both houses have increased. Ther key is the veto -- as long as a Republican governor can sustain a veto by cobbling together moderate Dems with the Republicans, taxes will stay low.

Hmm. DC is 12.20, MD is 10.30, and VA is 9.70.

I'm with AGR--world-class schools, excellent roads, and a transportation/transit system that's par-excellence! :-P

Did you know that DC now wants to tax people who work there but don't live there? I swear, it's more a hostile and corrupt third-world nation rather than the capitol of one of the richest countries in the world.

DC needs to lose home rule, ASAP!

Lornkanaga, NYC already has such a tax. We had our paychecks taxed by NY for working in Silicon Alley in 1995, even though we lived in Fort Lee, NJ.

Zero Boss,

I'm not so much objecting to the tax as I am having to pay it to an inefficient and corrupt government.