Seattle Native-How Can I Live Here Anymore? (Bellevue, Sammamish: rent, how much)

[Hacker1234]

If it was the top 25 percent is would hurt bad. A lot of people need high incomes here just to live middle class.

[cis_love]

i agree renting out a room permanently or as an airbnb might be a good option. if you live on the eastside if you can rent out a bed/bath you may be able to get about $700/month.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by Hacker1234

If it was the top 25 percent is would hurt bad. A lot of people need high incomes here just to live middle class.

75% wouldn't pay any tax. If a couple, the threshold would be double, plus there would be deductions for dependent children. The tax would be applied only to income above the threshold. So, figure $100k for an individual, $200k for a couple, $300k for a family of four. Plus sales tax would go down an equivalent amount, so the average middle-class family would see their overall taxes go down, not up.

The undertaxing of the rich is a major factor in feeding the speculative bubble in the real estate and other markets, leading to a Boom/Bust and Bubble/Panic economy. Speculation drives out investment. So far this century, we've had three bubbles: 1) a tech bubble, 2) a credit bubble, and, now, 3) a real estate bubble.

[87112]

The amount of stress trying to make ends meet on a non tech career in Seattle is not worth it! The amount of people here is going to be atrious in another 5 years. Most cities over 1 million metro suck.

[Stonepa]

Originally Posted by mila123

I was born and raised in Seattle/Bellevue, and live on the Eastside. I own a house in King County and my property taxes go up by an enormous amount every year. I'm a single woman in her 50s and my job pay increases are minimal if at all. With property tax increases, Comcast increases, sales tax increase (now 10%!), and everything else that goes up, how can I or anyone else survive here anymore? Unless you're these outsiders or execs that move here, how do you not live paycheck-to-paycheck?

Maybe I'm missing something. Property tax in Seattle is constantly complained about. However, based on what I paid in Ohio it is basically nothing. For instance, my house in Bath, Ohio, sold for $739k, and had a property tax bill last year of $13,539. My house in Seattle, with the exact same valuation, had a property tax bill of $3,039. So tell me how Seattle's property tax is so high? I am I missing something here?

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by Stonepa

Maybe I'm missing something. Property tax in Seattle is constantly complained about. However, based on what I paid in Ohio it is basically nothing. For instance, my house in Bath, Ohio, sold for $739k, and had a property tax bill last year of $13,539. My house in Seattle, with the exact same valuation, had a property tax bill of $3,039. So tell me how Seattle's property tax is so high? I am I missing something here?

She's not comparing to other states and saying its too high comparatively. She specifically said it "goes up an enormous amount" every year.

Obviously the values of homes in the area are increasing, hence the increase (along with other fees, levies and such). But there some situations where people are having to fight the property assessor because of the way they assessed the property. I know of a woman who had a house in Kennydale, and the property assesor keeps labeling the house as having a water view, which increases the valuation, but she actually didn't have a water view. She would have to go in and fight it, but it's become an annual thing for her.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Stonepa

Maybe I'm missing something. Property tax in Seattle is constantly complained about. However, based on what I paid in Ohio it is basically nothing. For instance, my house in Bath, Ohio, sold for $739k, and had a property tax bill last year of $13,539. My house in Seattle, with the exact same valuation, had a property tax bill of $3,039. So tell me how Seattle's property tax is so high? I am I missing something here?

That's odd. When I bought a property in Seattle for $150K, back in the late 80's, the tax bill was $3000 annually. So something's off, somewhere.

[Stonepa]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

That's odd. When I bought a property in Seattle for $150K, back in the late 80's, the tax bill was $3000 annually. So something's off, somewhere.

If that were the case today I would agree that the property taxes seem out of alignment. But every single house we bid on at that rough valuation, whether in Seattle or the eastside, had the same kind of tax. We just found it odd that it was considered high given what we lived through back east. And our taxes in Ohio seemed cheap to those in New York, where property taxes are roughly double what they are in Ohio.

[Rombus]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

They could propose a state constitutional amendment that would enable a state income tax, but cap it at a set percentage, limit its application to upper income earners, and require an equivalent reduction (a revenue swap) in the state sales tax, which should help alleviate "slippery slope" concerns. The notion would be that institution of an income tax should be to increase progressivity, not revenues.

It would most likely start that way.

Then as the 'need' for more revenue expands, the caps will be lowered (or they will let inflation bump us up into higher and higher tax brackets). The reduction in sales tax will be whittled away, and new rates will be added for the lower income people.

We will end up like CA and NY. High property tax, high sales tax, high income tax.

That said, I agree that a multi-tax system is far more fair than what we have now. B&O is a mess, Property taxes are becoming a huge burden for many in the lower middle class levels, and the sales tax is at 10% for many of us is at a record high.

Like I said, two types of people will be able to live here - the upper middle class and beyond (say $140,000+) and the very poor need welfare to survive.

The rest of us need to get out while the getting is good.

[Hemlock140]

Originally Posted by Stonepa

Maybe I'm missing something. Property tax in Seattle is constantly complained about. However, based on what I paid in Ohio it is basically nothing. For instance, my house in Bath, Ohio, sold for $739k, and had a property tax bill last year of $13,539. My house in Seattle, with the exact same valuation, had a property tax bill of $3,039. So tell me how Seattle's property tax is so high? I am I missing something here?

Wow, that is low, our home in Sammamish is about the same value and $6,600 tax bill this year. Are you sure that wasn't just the first half payment amount?

Our increase was almost a thousand over 2016.