Hidden taxes, costs, and fees of living in WA? (Seattle: rental car, sales)

[MJJersey]

I’m looking to move and investigating some different states. Can you good people tell me about some hidden costs of WA? Here are some examples of what I mean:

Tax on grocery bags
Tax on gym membership
Tax on landscaping
Yearly car “registration” fee
Tolls, tolls, everywhere
Beach entrance fee
Garbage collection
Fire dept fee
Cell phone tax
Cable tax
Numerous state and local “fees” taken from employee checks in addition to state and local taxes
Gas taxes
Liquor special taxes
Soda tax
Additional massive taxes on hotels

You get the idea. Your help is appreciated.

[fishbrains]

Some of those things are trivial. Tax on grocery bags? How many bags do you use in a year? Buy some reusable totes, or go to Costco and they give you a box.

Hotel taxes? Most places have high hotel taxes, and if you live here you rarely stay in hotels.

Garbage collection isn’t unusual.

Lots of places have tolls, and most places in Washington don’t.

Beach entrance fee? I have never seen that in WA.

Washington state does have high sales and gas taxes, and some fees are pricy too. This is balanced by have zero state income tax.

It takes money to operate a state, and it has to be collected somehow. You choose your poison.

[Inkpoe]

I was puzzled about the beach entrance fee, don't think I've ever seen that (or is it a recent thing?). There is a fee associated with going to State parks (last I was there, it was like $10/day, most people opted for a pass instead).


Cell phone tax... I was shocked when I moved to TN at how low my taxes were on that, then I looked it up and found out WA is #1 in the nation for cell phones tax, it was something like totalling 25% (including the Fed. Taxes).



Soda tax is mainly Seattle proper. They actually charge sugar tax, so it covers other drinks with a few exceptions.

[cdelena]

Most of the sales tax is pretty standard so I just accept and move on. The two areas I find out of line is gasoline tax (government in WA admires CA so they follow), and property taxes which are substantial.

[StealthRabbit]

^^^ + Personal property tax^^^ if a business owner with capital assets,
Employment /. B&O if an employer / business

"impact Fees' if building a home / business on vacant land/

Environmental fees if applicable
https://dor.wa.gov/

[Haakon]

WA doesn't call it a 'beach tax' but a Discover Pass, NW Forest Pass, Sno-Park permit or backcountry permits probably amount to the same thing.

WA tried to make places like martial arts schools charge sales tax. Fortunately that didn't go through, but in this state that just means they'll try to pass it again later.

WA, especially King County, is constantly adding new taxes to car registration fees, for example the Sound Transit boondoggle.

[fishbrains]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

^^^ + Personal property tax^^^ if a business owner with capital assets,
Employment /. B&O if an employer / business

Pretty typical in many, maybe most, states.

"impact Fees' if building a home / business on vacant land/

Again, development fees of one type or another are not uncommon.

Environmental fees if applicable
https://dor.wa.gov/

Yes, once again these are charged by many states.

Originally Posted by Haakon

WA doesn't call it a 'beach tax' but a Discover Pass, NW Forest Pass, Sno-Park permit or backcountry permits probably amount to the same thing.

Ok, user fees for state parks. $20/ year, which gives access to some amazing parks. You don’t have to go to a park if you don’t want to, and most beaches don’t require such a pass to access. Again, fairly common in many states.

WA tried to make places like martial arts schools charge sales tax. Fortunately that didn't go through, but in this state that just means they'll try to pass it again later.

In other words, you giving us an example of a tax that doesn’t exist.

WA, especially King County, is constantly adding new taxes to car registration fees, for example the Sound Transit boondoggle.

This on is largely true, although additional mass transit would be a good thing, not a boondoggle. Opinions will differ of course.

[StealthRabbit]

WA taxes rental cars at 50% (even 'off-airport')
My property taxes went from $3 / day to $43 / day on the same residence; no better / no improvements, just more worn out. (Opinions may differ, but that is pretty steep fare for a retiree with no chance to ratchet income.) Of course the cocky response is SELL IT, but at this age I am no longer able to build again brick by brick, and I built this one with the intent to live in, not to sell. Any offers I have had have been < 1/2 what the assessor thinks it's worth. (WA Property tax is really messed up yet supported / encouraged by the WA Supreme Court, (who benefits from the tax).

You can just use the generic Tax Foundation Rating... to state rather than regionally specific. WA is within the top tier for overall taxation. Just come with plenty of money, realize you likely will be unable to stay and enjoy your labors / contributions to the state. It is truly a state that can only accept the 'Upwardly Mobile' and their pet causes (homeless)

[ShadoAngel]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

You can just use the generic Tax Foundation Rating... to state rather than regionally specific. WA is within the top tier for overall taxation.

Can you source this statement? As far as I can tell, the combined state and local tax burden is ranked #28 (where higher is better, so WA would be in the lower half of all states.) Property tax specifically, ranked #23, so in the top half but just barely. Business tax climate, ranked #17 (lower is better, so in the top 20.)

The only thing I could find where WA was in the top 10 were several sales taxes - both in rate and amount of money raised via sales tax. That's somewhat expected though, given that there's no income tax.

[Haakon]

Originally Posted by fishbrains

This on is largely true, although additional mass transit would be a good thing, not a boondoggle. Opinions will differ of course.

Additional mass transit that won't be available for decades that costs $50 billion IS a boondoogle to anyone not a liberal Seattle voter that just can't wait to fork over another tax to a corrupt, wasteful government.