‘A lot of my income is already being taken:’ Seattleites pay US’ highest sales tax, report says
Aug 28, 2024, 6:45 PM | Updated: Aug 29, 2024, 11:11 am
Seattle City Council member Cathy Moore announced Friday her plan to introduce a similar tax for Seattle residents. (Photo: @PicturesofMoney via Flickr Creative Commons)
(Photo: @PicturesofMoney via Flickr Creative Commons)
A new report shows two Washington cities have the highest sales taxes in the nation.
The report, from the nonprofit Tax Foundation, said combined local and state sales tax in Seattle is the highest of any major city in the United States. Excluding certain goods, sales in Seattle are taxed at 10.35% – just 0.05% higher than No. 2 on the list: Tacoma. The report examined cities with populations over 200,000.
Although it doesn’t have the population to be considered for the Tax Foundation’s report, the City of Lynnwood has the highest sales tax rate in the state of Washington, according to July data released from the Department of Revenue. Shoppers in Lynnwood pay an additional 10.6 percent on top of certain retail goods. Other cities in Snohomish County, such as Edmonds and part of Bothell, level sales taxes of 10.5 percent.
People in Seattle speak out about feeling the effect of taxes
Seattleites told KIRO Newsradio they have felt the squeeze of taxes as the cost of living has continued to rise faster than wages — but they disagree on how to approach the issue.
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Brian, who gave only his first name and has lived in Seattle for 77 years, said he believes high sales taxes disproportionately impact the poor.
“I think the taxes should be more evenly balanced,” he said. “I would like to see an income tax, and then maybe a slight lowering of the sales tax.”
Washington has no income tax, by law, but localities can adjust sales taxes as their governmental bodies like. In comparison, Oregon has no sales tax but does tax income on both state and local levels. For high earners in Portland, Multnomah County, the combined state and local tax can equal about 11%.
Some taxpayers told KIRO Newsradio they’d prefer to stick with Washington’s no-income-tax system. Travis, who gave only his first name, said he disagrees with the idea of introducing an income tax but lowering the sales tax. He believes it would only worsen his economic situation.
“I feel like a lot of my income is already being taken away as it is,” he said while fishing at Green Lake Park.
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He said some situations, such as sudden car repairs, highlight the challenges of Seattle’s high sales tax.
“I paid tax on the car parts, and then I had to pay tax on the service to have them put in my car,” he said. “So I was basically double taxed.”
Portland and Anchorage, Alaska, are at the bottom of the list, Tax Foundation reported, as both have no local or state sales tax. But in states that do levy the surcharge on retail goods, Honolulu has the lowest sales tax rate at 4.5%.
Editor’s note: The editorial team has updated this article to include additional sales tax rates in other Washington cities. Thank you to the astute MyNorthwest reader for bringing this to our attention.
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