Evil Word in Seattle – TAXES
A recent article written by John Arthur Wilson, Assessor at King County Department of Assessment, King County Assessor:
Countywide, the increase is just under 17% — the largest, single-year increase in decades.
This is largely due to the Legislature – under a State Supreme Court order to “fully fund” K-12 education – adopting a $7.3 billion package to pay for education. That’s roughly 67% of the increase.
Our tax system is broken. It is regressive, too narrow, and unfair. Without more tools, the Legislature turned to the property tax. So they added $1.01 per thousand dollars of assessed value to fund public schools. More information is available here: https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/assessor/2018Taxes.aspx
King County taxpayers are hit particularly hard. We have significantly higher assessed values than any other county in Washington. Higher values now mean higher taxes.
At the same time, King County voters have approved ballot measures to invest in children, emergency services, schools and transportation (including Sound Transit).
So the combination of a big boost for education funding, voter-approved ballot measures, and increasing property values are all driving property taxes. And while we send the property tax bill, King County itself only gets less than 17% of the revenue collected.
Our reliance, however, on the property tax simply isn’t sustainable. Absent a significant new revenue source, there are going to be some things we’re going to have to fund near term with the property tax.
But the time has come to modernize our aging, antiquated tax system. We need a more balanced system, that’s straightforward, that doesn’t tax seniors out of their homes or create an affordability barrier to first-time buyers.
We can start with the Legislature enacting HB 2597, a local option bill developed by King County Executive Dow Constantine, the King County Council and myself to allow low-income seniors and vets to be exempted from certain ballot measures. That would help right now.
It’s a start. Taxpayers can also file an appeal to the new value you’ll be receiving later this year. By law, you can’t appeal your taxes but you can appeal your value.
Meanwhile, we’re going to keep fighting in Olympia and around the state to modernize government and how we pay for it and fight to keep seniors, disabled vets and the disabled in their homes.
We won’t give up.
Links to Common Questions:
Seniors: Can I get help paying my property taxes?
Residential: Does higher assessed value necessarily mean higher property taxes?
A link to a great article on taxes in the SeattleTimes March 19th.
