SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Maybe yet another tax is not always the answer
Apr 20, 2018, 3:28 PM
As Notorious B.I.G. famously said, “Mo Money, Mo Problems.”
I feel like I’ve been kind of obsessive about money and taxes this week. One more time, then I’ll give it a rest for a while. This has really been bothering me.
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There seems to be a new ask for money almost every week. This week it’s the business head tax and a new housing levy to pay for free pre-k and community college for over $650 million dollars, no big deal.
That made me wonder if maybe politicians needed to ask for money all the time because we don’t spend very much compared to other big cities. Since there’s no state income tax, I wanted to keep an open mind.
That sent me to the always exciting Analysis of Spending in America’s Largest Cities from Ballotpedia. Ballotpedia is a nonpartisan online political encyclopedia according to their Wikipedia page.
They have published a sortable database on the 100 largest cities in America with the most recent data available. The budget numbers are from a few years ago. Seattle is the 18th largest city in America by population and when you sort for money spent per citizen, guess where it lands? Fourth, behind Washington DC, San Francisco, and New York City. So in reality, I’d put Seattle third because with no state to lend a hand, the District of Columbia is kind of its own thing. It’s a complete outlier on the list spending way more than anyone else.
So what’s my point?
Not to overstate the obvious, but maybe a little bit of efficiency and belt tightening is in order before tax payers are asked for even more money.
Philadelphia is more than double the size of Seattle and spends less than half of what is spent here per citizen.
So with all due respect to new Mayor Jenny Durkan and the bottomless pit known as the City Council, I’d like to say “No.”
Time to put on your big girl and big boy pants and do things smarter. Maybe get on the phone to the mayor of Philly and ask how their city hasn’t fallen into chaos since they spend less than half of what we spend.
Surely, there has to be some more creative and responsible ideas than just constantly asking for more money?
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