Lawmakers asking people to live on tighter budget

Some Washington lawmakers are trying to give taxing districts the power to increase property taxes by up to 5 percent a year.

Allowing a county to increase those taxes that much is like telling people to live on a tighter budget, KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson told Rep. Ross Hunter (D-Medina).

“There are people getting taxed out of their homes,” Dori said. “Asking government to live within a tighter budget is more reasonable than asking all the people in the state to live on a tighter budget.”

The effort to give taxing districts the authority to increase property taxes would eliminate the 1 percent levy limit that currently exists. It would be up to each district to decide how much it would tax its residents, Hunter explained.

“This is about counties, not about the state,” he told Dori.

By allowing for higher property taxes, county councils would not have to put so many “goofy” things on ballots, Hunter said.

“I don’t trust the King County Council to keep the taxes down,” Dori responded. “I think it will expand the taxes to the 5 percent max.”

If counties could increase property taxes more than they can now, it would mean fewer levies on ballots, Hunter said. It could keep councils from having to make “bad decisions” and putting “only attractive stuff on the ballot” while pushing funding for core functions into the general fund, he added.

But is that guaranteed, Dori wanted to know.

“No,” Hunter responded. “You elect the council. They’re elected to make reasonable decisions. You just disagree with what reasonable means in King County.”

People can’t afford to pay higher property taxes, Dori reiterated.