Resident in Some Counties Hit With Quadruple-Inflation Property Tax Increases
2000-10
Residents in some counties across the state are paying for increases in annual property tax collections at up to four times the rate of inflation. That’s the conclusion of a new statewide survey conducted by the Washington Institute Foundation on the effectiveness of the Referendum 47 tax-limit law.
Frustrated by ever-rising property taxes, voters three years ago passed Referendum 47 to limit annual increases in state and local property tax collections to the rate of inflation, unless local officials identify a “substantial need” to raise taxes higher. The tax relief measure passed by a landslide 64% margin.
But until recently elected leaders in most counties ignored the law. Residents in counties that adhered to Referendum 47’s inflation limit have seen overall property tax collections increase by just 4.23% since 1997. In contrast, residents in many counties have been hit with a cumulative 19.1% increase over the same period, a rate of more than four times that of inflation.
Some counties ignored Referendum 47 until recently. Elected leaders in Asotin County, for example, imposed 6% increases in each of the first two years, then limited their increase to inflation (1.42%) in 2000.
Some counties moved in the opposite direction. Council members in Columbia County, for example, chose a 0% increase shortly after Referendum 47 passed. The second year the county imposed a 1.28% increase, more than inflation but still low compared to most other counties. This year, however, Columbia is imposing a whopping 14.24% in property tax collections on its citizens, handing county residents the highest one-year hike in the state.
About a quarter of the counties have always complied with Referendum 47’s inflation limit. Five of these, Clallam, Clark, Klickitat, Lewis and Thurston, have approved property tax collection increases at exactly the inflation level for each of the three years. Three counties held property tax increases to less than the inflation rate in each of the three years, and two counties, Pend Oreille and Whatcom, have imposed no increases at all over the same period.
Eleven counties did not at first comply with the inflation limit, but have done so in 2000, bringing the number of counties now following the voters’ wishes to 21.
Six counties, Chelan, Douglas, King Kitsap, Skamania and Yakima, have never adopted Referendum 47’s inflation limit, but each of these have shown steady improvement in curbing taxes over the three years the law has been in place. At the present rate, for example, King County will meet its goal of complying with the inflation limit in two years.
Three counties, Franklin, Jefferson and San Juan, not only have not respected Referendum 47’s tax limit, but have actually moved in the opposite direction. San Juan imposed 6% increases in each of 1998 and 1999, then doubled this rate of increase to 12% in 2000, the second highest tax boost among all counties this year.
Compliance with holding yearly tax increases to inflation, as voters want, is improving, but some counties still have a long way to go.