Concentration of capital gains tax payments

What this dataset measures

Washington's capital gains tax is the state's closest existing example of a tax on high earners' investment income. DOR's tax-year totals are the official collection figures, and its decile table is the only official breakdown of how concentrated the payments are. The 2021 fiscal note is the estimate lawmakers voted on.

Geography

Washington

Unit of observation

Tax year (collections); tax year or fiscal year (concentration)

Update cadence

When DOR publishes new collection totals

Curator

FactHub Research Team

Curated data tables

Concentration of capital gains tax payments

Total net payments, the 10 largest payments, and the top decile of payments, by period.

Unit of observation: Tax year or fiscal year

wa_cg_payment_concentration.csv text/csv · 475 bytes

All 4 rows 10 columns Download the file

All 4 rows

period	periodType	asOf	netPaymentsCount payments	totalNetPayments US dollars (nominal)	top10Payments US dollars (nominal)	top10SharePctReported percent	topDecileCount payments	topDecilePayments US dollars (nominal)	topDecileSharePct percent
Tax year 2022	taxYear	2025-01-06	3380	780401874	394300000	51	341	668028512	85.6
Tax year 2023	taxYear	2025-01-06	3401	416681025	129120000	31	344	306180005	73.5
Fiscal year 2023	fiscalYear	2025-01-06	3175	847519106	461630000	54	317	729959936	86.1
Fiscal year 2024	fiscalYear	2025-01-06	3706	360593887	91227741	25	366	282363933	78.3

10 field definitions

Field	Type	Meaning	Units	Value type
period	string	Tax year or fiscal year covered.	—	observed
periodType	string	'taxYear' or 'fiscalYear'.	—	observed
asOf	date	Date DOR compiled the table.	—	observed
netPaymentsCount	integer	Number of net payments (All accounts).	payments	observed
totalNetPayments	integer	Total net payments (All accounts).	US dollars (nominal)	observed
top10Payments	integer	Total of the 10 largest payments, as stated in DOR's note 1 (rounded by DOR).	US dollars (nominal)	observed
top10SharePctReported	integer	DOR's stated share of the total from the 10 largest payments.	percent	observed
topDecileCount	integer	Number of payments in the top decile.	payments	observed
topDecilePayments	integer	Net payments in the top decile.	US dollars (nominal)	observed
topDecileSharePct	number	Top-decile share of total net payments.	percent	derived

Supporting files

Source snapshots, manifests, quality reports, documentation, and other materials used to produce or review this release.

• build_datasets.js Transformation manifest · text/javascript · 54.6 KB (55,889 bytes)

  Node.js script holding every typed input value and computing the CSV tables and saved analyses for this dataset. Run: node build_datasets.js.

• dataset-parts-cg.json Documentation · application/json · 23.4 KB (23,957 bytes)

  The dataset's limitations, sources, tables, events, saved analyses and forecasts as JSON, as stored in this version.

Sources

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 and reproducibility

Reproducible: Every value is typed from a DOR or OFM document named in the field's sourceIds. The build script (build_datasets.js, Node.js) holds the inputs and recomputes every derived value and saved analysis.

• DOR revises its totals as refunds and late payments post, so each figure is tied to an as-of date; the decile table (January 2025) and the collection totals (June 2026) are different snapshots.
• Tax year 2025 is an initial count and includes the 2.9% surcharge on gains over $1 million that took effect that year.
• DOR counts payments, not individual taxpayers.
• Fiscal-note estimates are by fiscal year or biennium and collections by tax year, so comparisons are approximate. Comparisons use the note's gross capital gains receipts, not its net bill total, which also subtracts B&O tax credits.