How do you feel as a king county tax payer? (Seattle: for sale, real estate)

[JBVirtuoso]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

How did you calculate that? I figured my $5,500/year property taxes at $15.06/day, and I can't imagine eating for only $1.50 a day.

This would be pretty easy to achieve with a house worth $4 million.

[wutitiz]

tax structure here is about the best that can be expected for a deep blue area. Taxes can be avoided to a large extent by changing behavior, thanks to the defeat of I-1098. We no longer have the $800 tab taxes thanks to Tim Eyman.

One thing I don't like is having to pay 10% sales tax on a car. With the average new car price at $31K, that is a $3,100 bill for buying a car. OTOH it makes it easier for me to talk myself out of buying a new car, which is much better financially anyway.

[wutitiz]

Originally Posted by Steve Bowen

Well, we have no state income tax, which is a large progressive tax. Instead, the state has very high sales tax, which is regressive.

Any tax that is applied uniformly regardless of income will hit people with less income harder. So QED it's harder for poor people in Washington.

But you don't have to take my word for it

I don't think you're going to get a state income tax in the foreseeable future. I 1098 lost by about 65-35 in 2010.

You don't have to have an income tax to get more progressive. Instead of taxing booze, cigarettes, and gas, all of which are very regressive, you could tax art, boats, travel, jewelry, etc. But the legislature never does that, do they?

[JBVirtuoso]

Originally Posted by wutitiz

I don't think you're going to get a state income tax in the foreseeable future. I 1098 lost by about 65-35 in 2010.

You don't have to have an income tax to get more progressive. Instead of taxing booze, cigarettes, and gas, all of which are very regressive, you could tax art, boats, travel, jewelry, etc. But the legislature never does that, do they?

Excellent point.

This is also a good time to point out that Washington's sales tax is definitely not exceptional. Many other jurisdictions have higher sales tax along with income taxes and high property taxes.

[tom331]

Originally Posted by wutitiz

tax structure here is about the best that can be expected for a deep blue area. Taxes can be avoided to a large extent by changing behavior, thanks to the defeat of I-1098. We no longer have the $800 tab taxes thanks to Tim Eyman.

One thing I don't like is having to pay 10% sales tax on a car. With the average new car price at $31K, that is a $3,100 bill for buying a car. OTOH it makes it easier for me to talk myself out of buying a new car, which is much better financially anyway.

Can you purchase a car at Oregon instead of Washington without registration issue?

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by tom331

Can you purchase a car at Oregon instead of Washington without registration issue?

You can purchase your car anywhere. You'll just pay the tax when you register the car at your local DMV.

[wutitiz]

Originally Posted by tom331

Can you purchase a car at Oregon instead of Washington without registration issue?

As Inkpoe states, you can't legally bypass this tax. And there have been cases of people being busted for trying to do so. The best option is to buy a car, pay the one time tax, and keep it forever. Bad for Detroit, but good for your local mechanic.

[Steve Bowen]

Originally Posted by JBVirtuoso

Excellent point.

This is also a good time to point out that Washington's sales tax is definitely not exceptional. Many other jurisdictions have higher sales tax along with income taxes and high property taxes.

Sure, I never said, or meant to imply, that King County has an unusually high tax burden, just an unusually regressive one. The mix of taxes in the jurisdictions you're talking about may well result in a higher overall tax burden, but probably a less regressive one too.

In my opinion, the regressiveness is a larger problem for King County than the overall tax burden, or the return on investment of taxpayer dollars, both of which seem moderate in context. But when the bottom 20% of households by income spend 16.9% of their income on state and local taxes, while middle income households spend 10.4%, and the top 1% of households spend 2.8%, something is wrong.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by Steve Bowen

Sure, I never said, or meant to imply, that King County has an unusually high tax burden, just an unusually regressive one. The mix of taxes in the jurisdictions you're talking about may well result in a higher overall tax burden, but probably a less regressive one too.

In my opinion, the regressiveness is a larger problem for King County than the overall tax burden, or the return on investment of taxpayer dollars, both of which seem moderate in context. But when the bottom 20% of households by income spend 16.9% of their income on state and local taxes, while middle income households spend 10.4%, and the top 1% of households spend 2.8%, something is wrong.

On the federal income tax, the reverse (and then some) more than makes up for it, with the lower income people paying none, middle income paying a lot, and higher income people paying the most.

[sean98125]

Originally Posted by BellevueNative

But some of those tax increases are because the city is apparently managed very poorly. Where's all the money for the schools going? Seattle Public Schools is known for wasting money, then they ask for more?

The city budget and the Seattle Schools budget are entirely separate as they are separate political subdivisions.