The following e-newsletter was sent to Sen. Leonard Christian’s subscribers March 28, 2025. To subscribe to Sen. Christian’s e-newsletters, click here.

 

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

A bill that almost certainly would mean spectacular property tax increases across the state of Washington is set for a public hearing Monday in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. This may be your only chance to tell the Legislature’s majority party NO.

Senate Bill 5798 would remove the state’s limit on property tax increases that can be enacted without voter approval. At present, tax increases are limited to 1 percent a year. This bill ties increases to inflation and population growth, allowing property taxes to skyrocket.

Local governments are lobbying heavily for this proposal, because it would allow them to collect more money. What they aren’t saying is that they already have the power to do this – as long as they get permission from voters. This is really a measure designed to prevent you from having a say in your property taxes. If this bill had passed 10 years ago, your property tax bill could be double what it is today.

What can you do?

Olympia needs to hear from you. You can register your opinion with the Ways and Means Committee before the meeting starts at 4 p.m. Monday, March 31.

You can sign in CON by clicking here, testify against the bill, and/or submit written testimony.

This is a time when numbers count.

Even worse than last year’s proposal

If this proposal sounds familiar, it’s because local governments have been pushing this idea for the last five years. Last year public pressure helped derail a similar proposal on the cusp of passage as thousands of Washingtonians registered their opposition.

Well, put on your seat belts. This proposal is substantially worse. If state and local governments take full advantage, we could see increases of 8 percent or more annually. The impact would be compounded every year, resulting in property taxes that would drive up rents, push people out of their homes, and make housing even more unaffordable than it already is. And this easy money for local governments would eliminate any incentive for efficiency and cost-effective spending.

Republicans are standing firm against these proposals. But to defeat them, we need your help. Please take a moment to register your opinion, and let the Washington Senate know what you think about unchecked property tax increases.

 

SURVEY QUESTION:

Gas taxes and the North-South Freeway

Please take a moment to answer this week’s survey, by clicking here.

Middle class is real target of Olympia’s multi-billion-dollar tax proposals

Don’t be fooled by tax-the-rich sloganeering – middle class will pay for reckless spending

Whenever advocates of higher taxes and spending want to sock the state with a massive tax increase, we can be sure of one thing. They’ll say they’re making the rich pay their fair share.

Democratic majorities in the House and Senate are trotting out this tired class-warfare nonsense this year as they promote the biggest tax increase in state history. In a press release, the Senate majority leader even has the temerity to describe his team’s proposals for new and higher taxes as “ending a tax break for the rich.”

But if this argument had any merit, our colleagues are doing a pretty poor job of it with the proposal they unveiled this last week. What they are really doing is soaking the middle class.  To paper over a $7 billion deficit they created with their irresponsible spending, House and Senate majorities are proposing to raise two-and-a-half times that amount with taxes, fees, user charges, tuition increases and more. Then come billions of dollars more in the form of new taxing authority, higher gas prices, new transportation taxes, and so on.

Yes, a few of these proposals target the rich. But even those taxes come back around and bite the middle class. One way or another, directly and indirectly, it is people like you and me who will pay the price for what our friends like to call “progressive tax policies.”

Let’s start with the steep increases in property taxes mentioned above. All of us pay those, even renters. And there’s more –

Fee increases: Budget proposals assume big increases in hunting and fishing licenses, up an average 40 percent, a 50 percent increase in liquor license fees, and a 50 percent increase in Discover Pass fees for entry to state parks.

Tuition hikes: Budget proposals would increase the cost of attending a state college or university by roughly $3,000, reversing efforts to keep tuition under control. Financial aid would be eliminated for 17,000 students.

New taxes on transportation: These are seldom mentioned in the same breath, because this money goes into different pots. But we all pay these, too, and we can’t ignore them. This year we have proposals in the Senate and House for gas-tax increases, six and nine cents a gallon, respectively. Another proposal would impose a brand-new per-mile Road Usage Charge. And then we have a proposal that would add as much as 20 cents a gallon to Washington’s already-high gas prices, by ratcheting up the requirements of Washington’s costly and largely unworkable low carbon fuel standards rules.

Taxes on jobs: House Democrats are looking to wallop business with an old standby, increases in business and occupations taxes, targeted at Washington’s biggest and most successful businesses. But let’s give kudos to their Senate counterparts for creativity. They want to follow Seattle’s lead in punishing business success by imposing a special 5 percent payroll tax on jobs paying more than $176,100 a year. Think of it as a high-earners income tax that companies would pay. Very few of us make this kind of money, of course. But what it really does is erect a flashing warning sign for anyone looking to build a business in Washington state. One of the basic principles of tax policy is that if you want less of something, you tax it. Most of us would say Washington could use more business and more jobs – not less. We’d be ensuring the next Amazon, Microsoft or Boeing would be born anywhere but Washington.

Wealth tax: This is where our colleagues are staking their soak-the-rich sloganeering, and at first glance this tax certainly seems to do the trick. This first-of-its-kind tax on stocks, bonds and other investments would impose a sort of property tax on portfolios worth more than $50 million. There are some differences between House and Senate proposals, but depending on how it is implemented, this one is a whopper — squeezing a handful of Washington’s wealthiest residents to raise as much as $12.2 billion over four years.

But would it really raise that much? The sort of person who has a $50 million portfolio can easily establish residency in another state. There’s a good reason no other state has a tax like this one. They know it would chase away their biggest job creators and tax-generators. We’d be basing the financial solvency of our state on about 4,300 people. When enough of them leave and tax collections tank, who do you think will pick up the tab? Most likely it will become the excuse our colleagues have been seeking to transform our state’s “starter income tax” on capital gains into an income tax that hits us all.

 

Thanks for reading,

Leonard Christian

4th Legislative District

 

Contact me!

 

If you have a comment about state government, or a concern with a state agency, I hope you will reach out to my office. My most important duty is to serve you. Mailing address: Post Office Box 40404, Olympia, WA  98504 Email: Leonard.Christian@leg.wa.gov Phone: (360) 786-7606 Leave a message on the Legislative Hotline: 1 (800) 562-6000

To unsubscribe, visit the link to the Subscriber Preferences Page below.