Since there is no State income tax.. (rental car, sales)

[sdbio]

I was wondering since there is no state income tax do residents pay for it in another way? For instance higher gas prices or some other tax?

Thanks!

[woodinvilleguy]

Sales tax is 8.8% in Kings County.
Property tax is about 1%
The business operating tax is high which pays for a lot as compared to other states that have income tax or higher property tax.

[jwb123]

Aren't there even higher taxes on things like eating out or other "luxury" items?

[allforcats]

Yes, Jenbar -- 14% (or did I hear 17% recently?) on hotels, and the restaurant tax is around 14%.

[thirtysomething]

What is a 'restaurant tax'?

[socal359]

What is the business operating tax? A tax on gross revenue or??

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by sdbio

I was wondering since there is no state income tax do residents pay for it in another way? For instance higher gas prices or some other tax?

Thanks!

WA is pretty fiscally sound, so they get their fair share of OURS

Businesses pay dearly... Personal Property tax + B&O

EVERYONE pays
8% sales tax (on everything EXCEPT non-prepared food items), including services...

Gas tax is high, but not exorbitant compared to some states

... my WA budget tells a sad story
$100/month for groceries (~ same for Utilities, transportation, insurance)
but...
$1000/month for property taxes (it would be better to rent, tho a landlord would (will) have to pass on the cost of taxes)
A normal prop tax would be ~ $300 - $400 / month, my assessor seems to like my $120,000 home and thinks its worth $850k

RE: restaurant tax... there is also a special state wide tax on rental cars, and many other 'special' fees.. The WA Dept of Revenue has a good web site + frequent training programs in various locations.
http://dor.wa.gov/content/home/

[irrational exuberance]

Business dont pay as dearly as some lead to believe, although they do have various different amounts of fees they pay i.e Employment security, L&I etc. There are two main categories of taxes for Businesses. 1. Business and Occupation (B&O) taxes and 2. Sales tax. When you go into a store and buy an item and get charged sales tax that is trust fund money for the state and not that business. That is money you are paying above the price of a product so the business is required by law to remit that amount back to the state. As for the number 1. B&0 taxes the max amount on that is .015 or 1.5% of gross revenue but it ranges from about a half percent and that is a tax on your business for the "privilege" of doing business in WA state. No one likes to pay taxes but that is a part of our economy both locally and federally.

[mthomson]

$1000 a month for property taxes? You need to contact somebody and get that examined. I recently sold a $1.3M home and their taxes were "only" $11k a year. $12k a year for a $120k house means somebody made a mistake.

[JDTD]

Originally Posted by sdbio

I was wondering since there is no state income tax do residents pay for it in another way? For instance higher gas prices or some other tax?

Thanks!

They tax taxes in this state. I can seriously say that it's gotten really expensive to live here. They seem to get you one way or another. I think I was actually doing better here financially 5 years ago when I was making about 20,000 less. I really don't have any "extra" bills either (no "toys", etc.). That's my 2 cents which is probably only worth 1 after taxes.