Washington capital gains tax collections by tax year, 2022-2025

What this chart asks

How much did Washington's capital gains tax collect each year, and how much did it swing?

Why it is shown this way

• One bar per tax year makes the halving from 2022 to 2023 and the jump in 2025 easy to compare.
• The axis starts at zero so bar heights are proportional to dollars.

Chart annotations

These markers provide relevant context for interpreting the chart. Their timing or position does not, by itself, establish causation.

Includes new 2.9% rate on gains over $1M

2025

ESSB 5813 added a 2.9% rate on gains over $1 million from tax year 2025.

Data and accessibility

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Dataset wa-capital-gains-collections, analysis collections-by-tax-year

Sources

This chart draws on the sources of the dataset versions it visualizes.

Washington capital gains tax: collections by tax year and concentration of payments, 2022-2025

1. Washington Department of Revenue, Capital Gains Tax - Tax Year 2025 Initial Collections Net payments and number of net payments by tax year, 2022-2025, as of June 9, 2026; return and extension counts for tax year 2025.

   Retrieved October 21, 2026. Public record of a Washington state agency. Figures restated with attribution; the page is linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. The Department of Revenue administers and collects the tax and publishes these totals from its own payment records. Totals change as refunds and late payments post, so each figure is tied to its as-of date.

2. Washington Department of Revenue, Research & Fiscal Analysis, Capital gains tax payments by decile (as of January 6, 2025) Net payments by decile of payment size, and the total of the top 10 payments with DOR's stated share, for tax years 2022 and 2023 and fiscal years 2023 and 2024.

   Retrieved October 21, 2026. Public record of a Washington state agency. Figures restated with attribution; the PDF is linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. DOR's research office compiled the table from payment records. Its tax-year totals ($780.4M for 2022, $416.7M for 2023) are earlier counts than DOR's June 2026 figures and differ because of later refunds and payments.

3. OFM Fiscal Note Package 63363, SSB 5096 (2021), capital gains tax, as passed The Department of Revenue's pre-enactment estimate by account: Education Legacy Trust $500M and school construction $27M in FY2023 ($527M gross), $1,028M and $134M in 2023-25, $1,070M and $188M in 2025-27, less B&O tax credits (net bill totals $442M, $974M, $1,053M); assumptions on taxpayers (about 7,000) and compliance.

   Retrieved October 21, 2026. Public record of a Washington state agency. Figures restated with attribution; the PDF is linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. Official fiscal note prepared by DOR for the Legislature before the vote. It grows 2018 capital gains with CBO realization forecasts and assumes no behavioral response other than charitable giving.

4. OFM Fiscal Note Package 75010, ESSB 5813 (2025), 2.9% capital gains surcharge over $1 million Estimate for the added 2.9% rate on gains over $1 million from tax year 2025: about $151.0M in FY2026 (Education Legacy Trust Account capital gains portion), about 900 taxpayers.

   Retrieved October 21, 2026. Public record of a Washington state agency. Figures restated with attribution; the PDF is linked, not hosted.

   Reliability: Government. Official fiscal note prepared by DOR before the 2025 vote; the surcharge applied retroactively to January 1, 2025.

Limitations

• Tax year 2025 is DOR's initial, rounded count ($1.5 billion) and includes the new 2.9% rate on gains over $1 million, so it is not directly comparable with earlier years.
• Net payments change as refunds and late payments post; all bars are as of June 9, 2026.
• Four years are too few to estimate long-run volatility.