As Washington lawmakers grapple with a deep recession and a budget gap approaching $9 billion, some Democrats are openly talking about something that has been the “third rail” of politics in this state — the income tax.

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown of Spokane, a PhD economist who has deeply studied the state’s tax structure, and Senate colleague Jeanne Kohl-Welles of Seattle are talking about a soak-the-rich tax something like President Obama has advocated. Brown and Kohl-Welles would tax the earnings of people who make over a certain amount, say, $250,000 or $500,000.  A 1 percent tax on an extra $50,000 over the $500k, for instance, would be $500 a year.

The plan, should it survive the Legislature or take wings as an initiative, would go to the ballot.

Did you know that Washington voters actually approved an income tax back in the Great Depression, when few people actually had much income? The annals of the state Elections Division includes this snippet:

INITIATIVE MEASURE NO. 69
(Income Tax Measure) Filed March 22, 1932. Submitted to the voters at the state general election held on November 8, 1932 and approved by the following vote: For – 322,919 Against – 136,983. Act is now identified as Chapter 5, Laws of 1933.

But a closely divided state Supreme Court chucked it, saying that a graduated net income tax requires a state constitutional amendment and not just a statute or initiative. In 1935, the state’s main revenue act was approved, including sales, business and property taxes.

Periodic tax reform efforts blossom, and voters promptly stomp them into the ground — including three efforts by progressive Republican Governor Dan Evans.  Peter Callaghan over at The News Tribune has a good backgrounder here  .

What think you?