Is The Tri-Cities Adopting The Seattle Tax Strategy?

If you follow city government in the Tri-Cities (if you don't you should at least keep tabs) you've noticed an alarming trend of tax increases.  Earlier this year Kennewick raised their sales tax by .01% to help fund road projects.  They aren't the only ones looking to raise taxes.

Richland is going to join the sales tax increase club when they replace their car tab fee with a 0.1% increase next April.  You could argue there it is a a tax cut of sorts since they were paying $20 per year for car tabs.  Pasco, who already raised their sales tax a couple years ago to fund the aquatic center, discussed other potential increases at their meeting last night.

Get our free mobile app

Pasco is also discussing a possible car tab fee, utility tax hike, and a property tax increase.  It seems as though West Richland is the only one sitting out Taxpalooza as their sales tax rate is the lowest at 8.7%.

Word is now out that Kennewick will look to raise property taxes by their state allowed 0.1%.  That will be discussed at a public meeting tonight, November 18th.  They don't need voter approval to do it, they just need to hold a meeting to get public input.  the likelihood that those in favor of the increase ignore that public input is high.

There Are So Many Problems With This

Where do I begin.  The majority of all of the councils are comprised of members who campaigned with a fiscally conservative mindset.  You don't have to be one to know that philosophy is smaller government with responsible spending and extremely minimal taxation.

It's a philosophy that looks for ways to work within it's means and look for alternatives for funding with raising taxes as a last resort.  In a time when the State approved the highest tax increase in history, the cost of goods and services are high, and working families are trying to live within their own means, hiking taxes down multiple avenues doesn't have a good look.

There Is Another Way To Help Offset Some Of The Proposed Hikes

There may not be a way around a property tax hike, but there is for the road funding all the cities are looking to supplement.  They just have to have the chutzpah to do it.  The entity that uses the roads more than any other is transit.  Buses operates seven days a week in all cities.  Buses weigh around 33,000 pounds on average with electric buses quite a bit more.

Transit doesn't pay to help maintain the roads they use.  The most recent financial data for Ben Franklin transit shows they have over $97 million in unrestricted reserves (according to the State Auditor's Office).  It does seem unfair to ask they share some of the taxpayer dollars they collect based on a formula around the miles they put on the roads in each town they service.

At some point the local electeds need to stop going back to the taxing well and realize that while 0.1% may not seem like much, when you impose it multiple times down multiple avenues, it adds up.  If you don't want to see these increases continue, i would suggest attending a City Council meeting in your town and express your concern.  If you do attend, maybe you change a mind, if you don't you surely won't.