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by jorblumesea 3303 days ago
We have higher sales tax than most, which is regressive and disproportionately impacts lower incomes. Property taxes in certain areas (Seattle) can be higher as well.

But the lack of income tax and higher wages make up for it. My tax burden is about 30% of my income, whereas in other states, Red and Blue alike, it would be anywhere from 30-40%. In general it's a low tax state, which is great for high income earners but not great for the state budget. We've had constant battles over funding education and Washington schools are woefully underfunded.

1 comments

A point: Seattle, City of has a lower total property tax rate (9.9%) than over half of the other cities in King County.

[0] - http://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/assessor/Reports/annual-repo...

I didn't notice this until it's too late to edit. I made two mistakes:

First, Seattle's tax rate is 9.25 cents per $1,000, not 9.9 cents.

Second, I made a display error. The rate is not 9.9%; that would be very high. It is 0.925% (just under 1%).

I live in the city and actually didn't know that, good to know.