NFR How's the housing market where you live?

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I really feel bad for King County folks when it comes to taxes. Really, the way they are treated at the state level is pretty damned awful. They have become the piggy bank for much of the rest of the state. This article is date (3yrs) but I don't think that much has changed.
It's an odd scenario politically. At some point, King Co. will decide to stick up for itself you would think. In the mean time, the way taxes are collected, it appears like the County is the one who is extracting the money from the residents. They are, but if King County wasn't sending $1,400.00 worth of revenue to every other citizen in the state, they may have plenty of money. Cliff notes version: Whatcom County (my county) sends roughly the same amount of money to the state as it receives. Citizens in counties like Pierce and Spokane are really sucking from King's teat.


This is a fairly good depiction of where the revenue King County receives for itself by itself:

https://kingcounty.gov/council/budget/budget_basics.aspx

It does not show where the revenue King County sends to the State goes.
This is a 2010 depiction of the counties who receive or send more to the state:
1655995953853.png

This map is Pre-McCleary fix. I am sure that it has not gotten better. I apologize for the overlay of party affiliation. The map is from the stranger who was making a different point. I am not trying to make any partisan political point, just that King County is taking it in the shorts on the state level.
 
I really feel bad for King County folks when it comes to taxes. Really, the way they are treated at the state level is pretty damned awful. They have become the piggy bank for much of the rest of the state. This article is date (3yrs) but I don't think that much has changed.
It's an odd scenario politically. At some point, King Co. will decide to stick up for itself you would think. In the mean time, the way taxes are collected, it appears like the County is the one who is extracting the money from the residents. They are, but if King County wasn't sending $1,400.00 worth of revenue to every other citizen in the state, they may have plenty of money. Cliff notes version: Whatcom County (my county) sends roughly the same amount of money to the state as it receives. Citizens in counties like Pierce and Spokane are really sucking from King's teat.


This is a fairly good depiction of where the revenue King County receives for itself by itself:

https://kingcounty.gov/council/budget/budget_basics.aspx

It does not show where the revenue King County sends to the State goes.
This is a 2010 depiction of the counties who receive or send more to the state:
View attachment 19551

This map is Pre-McCleary fix. I am sure that it has not gotten better. I apologize for the overlay of party affiliation. The map is from the stranger who was making a different point. I am not trying to make any partisan political point, just that King County is taking it in the shorts on the state level.

They should secede. Start their own utopia.
 
I really feel bad for King County folks when it comes to taxes. Really, the way they are treated at the state level is pretty damned awful. They have become the piggy bank for much of the rest of the state. This article is date (3yrs) but I don't think that much has changed.
It's an odd scenario politically. At some point, King Co. will decide to stick up for itself you would think. In the mean time, the way taxes are collected, it appears like the County is the one who is extracting the money from the residents. They are, but if King County wasn't sending $1,400.00 worth of revenue to every other citizen in the state, they may have plenty of money. Cliff notes version: Whatcom County (my county) sends roughly the same amount of money to the state as it receives. Citizens in counties like Pierce and Spokane are really sucking from King's teat.


This is a fairly good depiction of where the revenue King County receives for itself by itself:

https://kingcounty.gov/council/budget/budget_basics.aspx

It does not show where the revenue King County sends to the State goes.
This is a 2010 depiction of the counties who receive or send more to the state:
View attachment 19551

This map is Pre-McCleary fix. I am sure that it has not gotten better. I apologize for the overlay of party affiliation. The map is from the stranger who was making a different point. I am not trying to make any partisan political point, just that King County is taking it in the shorts on the state level.
Washington has 39 counties. Is it really surprising that one county, which has about 30% of the state's population, funds a large share of the public work and programs around the state? Does this data include prison funding? The State Prisons in Walla Walla and Connell are located in rural counties. Is it fair to say those counties are sucking off the teat of King Co. when they are providing an essential State service?

BTW, many of the King County folks you feel bad for are also sucking from the public teat, just as they are everywhere else.
 
Washington has 39 counties. Is it really surprising that one county, which has about 30% of the state's population, funds a large share of the public work and programs around the state? Does this data include prison funding? The State Prisons in Walla Walla and Connell are located in rural counties. Is it fair to say those counties are sucking off the teat of King Co. when they are providing an essential State service?

BTW, many of the King County folks you feel bad for are also sucking from the public teat, just as they are everywhere else.
1/3 of the people are in one county but they can use public resources all over the state.
 
Some of the fees in King County absolutely blow my mind. Like, I am very liberal and even I can’t believe the costs. I’m pretty sure the city is so full of the extremely wealthy they would be fine making gasoline $12 per gallon if it paid for a tunnel or bridge that shortened their commute by 10 minutes.
 
What county. That is quite a freaking hike!

I live in unincorporated King County. Other places in King County e.g. Sammamish, had their property taxes go up 52%.

Refer to my earlier post:

 
Someone I know just got his new assessment for next years taxes. Up $500K over last year.
SF
 
Just got notified by the county that property taxes are going up by 35% this fall.
Interesting. Are they raising the tax rate or just raising everyone's assessed value by 35% across the board? I thought there was a statute in place that limited how much the assessment could increase every year. Something like 10% max.

andy
 
Interesting. Are they raising the tax rate or just raising everyone's assessed value by 35% across the board? I thought there was a statute in place that limited how much the assessment could increase every year. Something like 10% max.

andy

I read that limitation you are referencing. It would take a team of lawyers to interpret it. What I can say it does not apply.

From King County records the % tax increases in past 5 years for my place:

2021 +3.4%
2020 +0.9%
2019 + 0.2%
2018 +12.9%
2017 +29%
 
The assessment on my property had been up about $50k a year the last two years, up $100k for next year...
 
Property taxes include both senior and junior taxing districts. The various levys, and tax related services taxes the citizens pass reflect the total tax burden for various jurisdictions withing any given county.

"The total amount the county generates can only increase by about 1% each year, except for voter-approved tax increases such as school and parks levies. Then, to reach that total amount, the assessor determines how much to charge each property owner, based on the value of the property.

When values climb dramatically faster in some areas than others, property owners can see spikes in their bills as the county adjusts the proportional share of total taxes.

That’s what will happen next year,.

“It isn’t a direct ‘my value went up 30% so my taxes will go up 30%,’ but when you hit this magnitude it has some impact,” he said. “We don’t want to kid the public.”

Much of the incresed property tax totals is for things like school levys, medic one and similar taxpayer passed ballot initiatives that fund services.
The state cap of 1% increase per year on property taxes is a state cap, any taxing district (so called junior taxing districts) can vote in fire protection, open space, and so forth that is not subject to the state levied and collected portion of property taxes.

My understanding anyways...
 
I really feel bad for King County folks when it comes to taxes. Really, the way they are treated at the state level is pretty damned awful. They have become the piggy bank for much of the rest of the state. This article is date (3yrs) but I don't think that much has changed.
It's an odd scenario politically. At some point, King Co. will decide to stick up for itself you would think. In the mean time, the way taxes are collected, it appears like the County is the one who is extracting the money from the residents. They are, but if King County wasn't sending $1,400.00 worth of revenue to every other citizen in the state, they may have plenty of money. Cliff notes version: Whatcom County (my county) sends roughly the same amount of money to the state as it receives. Citizens in counties like Pierce and Spokane are really sucking from King's teat.


This is a fairly good depiction of where the revenue King County receives for itself by itself:

https://kingcounty.gov/council/budget/budget_basics.aspx

It does not show where the revenue King County sends to the State goes.
This is a 2010 depiction of the counties who receive or send more to the state:
View attachment 19551

This map is Pre-McCleary fix. I am sure that it has not gotten better. I apologize for the overlay of party affiliation. The map is from the stranger who was making a different point. I am not trying to make any partisan political point, just that King County is taking it in the shorts on the state level.
Thanks Charles, that's a lot to take in...
 
Washington has 39 counties. Is it really surprising that one county, which has about 30% of the state's population, funds a large share of the public work and programs around the state? Does this data include prison funding? The State Prisons in Walla Walla and Connell are located in rural counties. Is it fair to say those counties are sucking off the teat of King Co. when they are providing an essential State service?

BTW, many of the King County folks you feel bad for are also sucking from the public teat, just as they are everywhere else.
I think that they send so much more money to the state than they receive back is somewhat odd. My point is just that if they did not have such a tax burden placed on them, they may not have to raise levies for schools etc. Much of the money that is sent to the state and distributed to other jurisdictions is for schools. I happen to think that every kid should get the best education that we can provide so I think this is a good thing overall. I also think that King County government may be getting something of a bad rap here. The County has to pay King Co. wages. When they buy land it's at King County prices. They have issues with homelessness and crime that are endemic to more urban areas to deal with. If I were a King Co. resident I think that I'd be a little put off that the money isn't coming back anywhere near the rate that it is heading to Olympia.
I grew up in NH where most taxes are very local. You voted on your own school budget every year. The quality of your school, your teachers salaries etc. were all dependent upon local direct democracy. I came from a rural, less well off town/ school district. It really sucked for my education. So maybe it's better this way where more affluent areas pay more. I do think it causes people to be priced out of there homes by taxes though.
 
Same thing is true at the federal level.
Donor states like WA, CA, NJ, IL, NY etc. have their tax dollars got to MT, SD, AL, MS, WV etc.
It has always been this way, so nobody should be surprised at either the state or federal level as to how things work.
 
There is a lot of interesting info in this thread so thank you everybody. But seriously, who cares about property taxes when you work at Corporate Starbucks, Costco, Amazon, Microsoft et cetera…
 
...among those earning more than 100,000, 48 percent said they were living paycheck to paycheck, an increase from 42 percent in December 2021. The number has increased since May 2021 when 39 percent of six-figure earners said the same....

High income earners tend to have more savings of course, but bills are bills, and the worldwide inflationary cycle has impacted all income brackets.
Not everyone who works at the places you mentioned is filthy rich, thats just common sense of course.
 
There is a lot of interesting info in this thread so thank you everybody. But seriously, who cares about property taxes when you work at Corporate Starbucks, Costco, Amazon, Microsoft et cetera…
I have 2 cousins who work at amazon in Va. They do fine but are far from rich.
 
Same thing is true at the federal level.
Donor states like WA, CA, NJ, IL, NY etc. have their tax dollars got to MT, SD, AL, MS, WV etc.
It has always been this way, so nobody should be surprised at either the state or federal level as to how things work.
The federal gov runs a deficit so that makes the federal tax disparities a little different. It really is something that some states pay so much more than they recieve. I have always thought that California may be able to be it's own country if not for their federal tax burden. The Northeast is the same.
We are all connected though and we share a destiny. So maybe it's best the way it is. The US is a pretty fantastic country we live in overall.
I am leaving on a plane for NYC to see a rock and roll show tonight. I sure appreciate the chance to go to Radio City. New York is an exciting place.
 
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