R&D: Seattle has gone too far with new tax proposals

Seattle voters are usually willing to approve just about any tax hike for everything from transit to schools, but with officials rolling out a laundry list of new proposals, KIRO Radio’s Ron and Don say “enough is enough.”

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray on Thursday proposed a four-year property-tax levy to raise $14.5 million a year for early childhood development.

Earlier this week, he proposed a plan to fund Metro Transit bus service that would stick city taxpayers with a $60 car tab on top of a 0.1 percent sales tax.

Then there’s a record setting levy proposal on the August ballot to raise $48 million a year for Seattle parks.

“This is incredible to me,” says Don. “And so what you’re going to continue to do as a mayor, I guess, is come up with these ideas and programs that aren’t free, and then you’re going to keep coming to us and saying ‘hey we need some more money.’ What we’re going to do is the people that are driving the cars, you’re going to pay for the buses.”

Murray has said he doesn’t think all of the asks are unreasonable. But as The Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat points out, the city already has six special taxes totaling $145 million a year, and could have eight totaling $228 million by the end of the year. That’s a 57 percent increase.

Ron likens it to a former program director he worked under who kept adding elements like sponsorships and updates to the radio show, which would have required 68 minutes in an hour to squeeze everything in.

“So that’s what they do at the City of Seattle. They keep adding and keep adding and keep adding, and then they want to hold everybody hostage when, lo and behold, they can’t pay for everything.”

Will Seattle voters finally say no? If Ron and Don have any say, the most certainly will. What do you think?