Seattle doesn’t have highest tax burden, so there must be room for more

Taken from Thursday’s edition of KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Show.

What’s coming down the road with taxes in Seattle following Tuesday’s election?

I’ll tell you one thing, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray thinks Seattle people aren’t taxed enough. In Seattle, they passed a pre-K tax, they passed a Metro tax, they got a parks tax they just passed.

KING 5’s Chris Daniels tallied up all the new taxes and determined it would cost the median homeowner $250 more a year in taxes. For many people, it will be significantly more than that.

But Mayor Ed Murray says people aren’t overtaxed in Seattle.

“When I realized that we were going to end up doing parks, pre-K and transit all in one year, and we were going to do two of them on one night, I was not happy,” Murray said. “One always has to be concerned about how much one can raise taxes. I think it’s important to remember that Seattle is not – if you look at Seattle compared to other major cities – is not one of the highest tax burdens.”

We’re not yet one of the highest tax burden cities. Until we achieve that, there’s still going to be room to kick up the taxes.

Then, on MSNBC Wednesday night, Ed Murray said something absolutely ludicrous.

He was asked, “are you hoping that you’re going to be able to bring empirical evidence to this down the road where you get to say ‘look we raised the minimum wage to $15, here’s what happened to our economy, to the neighboring economy, here’s what happened to unemployment, here’s what happened to job migration.’ Will those kinds of studies be available for what’s happening in Seattle?”

Murray said, “I think they’re available now. It’s the last 34 years of a failed economic model.”

So Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said Seattle, for the last 34 years, has had a failed economic model. Now, 34 years would take us back to 1980. Let me take a look at the list of Seattle mayors. Let’s see who’s been in charge of the failed economic model in Seattle.

Past mayors: Ed Murray (D) since 2014, Mike McGinn (D) from 2010, Greg Nickels (D) from 2002, Paul Schell (D) since 1998, Norm Rice (D) since 1990, Charles Royer (D) 1978, Wes Uhlman (D) since 1969. So that’s about 45 years of Democratic rule.

If Seattle is a failed economic model over the last 34 years, Ed Murray, and if your party has been in control, exclusively, for all 34 years, why do the people keep voting your party back in?

What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again when it doesn’t work.

Taken from Thursday’s edition of KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Show.

JS