The Seattle Times ran a massive editorial on Sunday, detailing “what’s hiding in your property-tax bill” in the Puget Sound area, with very specific line items for what homeowners pay for in Seattle (and the ability to go online to see Bellevue and Kent tax breakdowns as well).
The piece deliberately pointed out the impact of Sound Transit, which includes trying to grab property taxes for the first time ever with its “whopping $54 billion request” for the ST3 initiative this November, writing that “Sound Transit 3’s property-tax stream – if approved – could complicate” the legislature’s work on public school funding next year to satisfy the Supreme Court’s McCleary decision.
Further, the editorialists also remind voters that “the stack of property taxes on this page may appear imposing, but it’s only a piece of the overall tax bite. It could become a bigger chomp in the months ahead.” Something to consider after the primary narrows down the number of candidates, and it might be easier to pin them down on their views on raising taxes.
I’ve developed my personal policy regarding ballot proposals to increase taxes… since tax revenue in this state is increasing without any tax increases, I vote them ALL down. The politicians will never get over their greed for more and more taxes, so the people subject to those taxes must send the message that enough is enough and we will not continue to voluntarily increase our taxes to feed the insatiable appetite of governmental bureaucracy.
I almost always vote no on props and initiatives, but definitely on all that raise taxes.
That seems to be a good personal policy, especially when they are initiated by the bureaucracy and propose to raise taxes.