Affordable-housing tax? 58 elected reps cite 'grave concerns'
EVERETT — A groundswell of city officials is voicing concern as Snohomish County Council Democrats look to increase sales tax by 0.1% to fund affordable and emergency housing. The hike could be adopted as early as Wednesday.
Fifty-eight elected officials from across the county said they have “grave concerns” about the tax and want it put in front of voters. They call sales taxes regressive in their joint letter to county Executive Dave Somers and the council. The letter was organized with the help of Republican County Councilmember Nate Nehring.
“We encourage the County Council to place this issue on the ballot and allow the voters of Snohomish County to determine whether this tax increase and proposed spending has merit,” the letter reads.
The tax could raise more than $23 million annually and would be a game-changer in addressing the housing and homelessness crises, advocates say. Opponents contend the measure is being jammed through with no public input and will overburden local cities already boasting some of the highest sales tax rates in Washington.
A new state law allows councils to skip a public vote and impose a tax to fund housing and behavioral health services. At least 27 localities have done so, including the city of Snohomish and King, Skagit and Whatcom counties.
https://www.heraldnet.com/home/affordable-housing-tax-58-elected-reps-cite-grave-concerns/
Editorial: Put county tax for affordable housing to voters
By The Herald Editorial Board
If it sounds as if the Snohomish County Council is wrestling over a penny, that understates both the potential benefits in fixing long-standing problems in the county but also the cost to its taxpayers.
That penny has been used as shorthand to express the cost for a proposal before the county council on Wednesday, which would increase its share of the sales tax by 0.1 percentage point, or 1 cent on the $10 you might spend on lunch. Currently, the county share of the sales tax brings in 13 cents on that $10; compare that to the 65 cents that the state collects when you sit down to a $10 meal.
Those pennies do add up, however; in what we pay in sales tax but also in what those pennies can accomplish is resolving some of the county’s — if not the state’s — most dire and seemingly intransigent problems: a lack of affordable housing, as well as the need for housing and services for those living with homelessness, mental health issues and addiction.
The question before the county council now is whether and how to levy that increase to the sales tax.
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https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-put-county-tax-for-affordable-housing-to-voters/
