On Monday, July 10, the Seattle City Council unanimously approved a new city income tax targeted toward Seattle’s highest-earning residents. The new tax will collect 2.25 percent on incomes above $250,000 for individuals and $500,000 for married couples filing jointly. Expectedly, the measure has
A Few Thoughts on the New Seattle Soda Tax
On Monday, June 5, 2017, the Seattle City Council passed a motion which will implement a tax on sugary soft drinks (soda). This new “soda tax” is designed to reduce statewide obesity rates, particularly among children, and to raise additional funds for public projects. Expectedly, the passage of the
Top Areas for Future Home Buyers in the Greater Seattle Region
Though many of our clients are homeowners, quite a few of our clients are currently in the market (or plan to be in the market) for a new home. For this reason, in our present article we’d like to take a moment to highlight some of the hottest areas for real estate purchases in the greater Seattle
Trump’s New Tax Proposal Could Have Substantial Impact on Seattle Homeowners
President Donald Trump has developed a proposal to rewrite the tax code in such a way that it may render the mortgage interest deduction meaningless for all but a small minority of wealthy homeowners. Opponents argue that this provision would take away an important incentive of homeownership;
Investment Property & the Personal Residence Exclusion
Contrary to what many may suppose, the initial purpose underlying the acquisition of a property does not necessarily bar future invocation of the principal residence exclusion (under IRS section 121). As we've discussed earlier, Section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code allows homeowners to exclude
The Basics of Tenancy-in-Common Ownership Arrangements
Many of our clients are real estate owners and so in this installment of HTW we thought it beneficial to introduce the concept of tenancy-in-common ownership arrangements. A tenancy-in-common (TIC) is a form of joint ownership which involves multiple owners who share an undivided fractional interest
HTW Post-Season News & Upcoming Small Business Webcasts
Now that we're past our busiest part of the year, HTW is happy to announce that we'll be continuing our previous trend of bringing topical, high-quality material to our readers on a regular basis. HTW would like to continue examining the contours of the sixteenth amendment for a bit longer; the
The Will of the People
The phrase “the will of the people” has greater importance for Americans than it has for citizens of other states around the world. In large part, this stems from our deeply entrenched view of our system of government as a system which has developed entirely from the collective will of a free