Senator Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, released a plan to tax 7,500 of the wealthiest in the state in an effort to solve Washington’s school funding crisis and combat income inequality.

He also introduced a constitutional amendment which will prevent the capital gains threshold from dropping below $250,000 for an individual and $500,000 for a household without a vote of the people.

Ranker’s high earners tax is part of a larger plan by Senate Democrats to fully fund Washington’s schools.

“Without question, and we have the research to support us, Washington’s tax system is the most unfair in the country,” Ranker said. “We also must significantly increase funding to our schools. This plan asks the wealthiest among us – not even the top 1 percent but the top 0.1 percent – to start chipping in to help Washington’s one million school kids receive the world class education they deserve.”

The plan taxes Washington’s multi-millionaires and billionaires a modest seven percent on the sale of stocks and bonds. The average capital gains of those who will be taxed is $1.6 million. The plan also exempts homes and other gains.

Forty one states already tax capital gains.

Ranker also made public a letter signed by more than 100 Washingtonians asking to pay a high-earners capital gains tax.

“Many of the wealthiest Washingtonians – not even the top 1 percent, but the top 0.1 percent – want to do more to give back to the great state they love,” Ranker said. “They understand that giving back and asking everyone to chip in makes our state a better place for all of us, not just a wealthy few.”