‘Left overreaches until someone punches back’: New initiative lowers property tax cap

Washington lawmakers are at odds over a proposal to raise the annual property tax cap from 1% to 3%. Democrats argued the current cap limits local governments’ ability to fund services amid rising costs, while Republicans argued the tax would contribute more to the housing affordability crisis in Seattle.

“The irony is really rich in Washington, where we’re worried about homelessness, we’re worried about affordability, and then we go into a super aggressive tax like this one,” Brian Heywood, founder of the political action committee Lets Go Washington, said on “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

Announcing two new initiatives

Heywood said Democratic lawmakers will continue to push for higher taxes unless a group speaks out to offer pushback.

“I think what people don’t understand is that the left overreaches so consistently, and they get away with it until someone punches back,” Heywood said. “So if we don’t fight back, they’re just going to keep pushing and pushing and pushing.”

It’s why he announced two new initiatives.

The first initiative, recently filed, would cap the property tax increase at 0.5%, which is lower than the current law, and reverse the direction from what Democrats in legislature are trying to do. The second initiative will be filed in the coming week. It would assess your property at 100% of real value, but only allow the state to charge you on 50% of that assessed value.

“So it would significantly reduce, for now, and significantly give tax relief to everybody until the legislature figures out how to fiddle with it and raise it again. But for a couple years at least, it would give some serious tax relief,” Heywood explained.

Listen to the full conversation below.

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