PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Washington state’s Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s capital gains tax, enacted in 2021, is constitutional.

Supporters of the tax say it helps level the state’s tax code by targeting the wealthiest residents to raise $500 million per year for schools.

Gov. Jay Inslee is praising the court’s 7-2 decision to uphold the 7% tax on the sale of stocks, bonds and other high-end assets.

“There has been an invisible injustice for over a century now in the state of Washington where working people were buried an unfair burden for paying for our schools and everything we hold dear. They have had to pay 4-5x more than very wealthy people as a percentage of their income.”

State Senator Lynda Wilson from Vancouver, who is the budget leader for Senate Republicans, issued a statement saying in part, “it’s disappointing that a majority of the justices went along with the Democrats’ creative argument that this is something other than an income tax.”

“I thought the Douglas County judge got it exactly right last year in ruling this tax unconstitutional,” Sen. Wilson added.