Seattle Not Levying New Taxes to Fill Budget Gap
February 4, 2025
Seattle King County REALTORS® has been engaged in the Seattle budget process to ensure the record general fund budget deficits of $251 million in 2025 and $498 million in 2026 were not closed by levying new taxes. We commented formally and advocated to encourage transparency and accountability in the budget process. The council held firm and tapped the Payroll Expense Tax to fill the deficit.
In addition, we argued against a proposal by Councilmember Moore to establish a city-level capital gains tax of 2% to provide additional housing and tenant services funding. The proposal was defeated.
On the expense side of the ledger, we successfully argued for full funding of public safety, including additional resources for Seattle Police and an expansion of the Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) department behavioral health responder team.
Our wins were made possible by the new council majority which we supported vigorously in 2023 and 2024. Councilmembers Bob Kettle, Maritza Rivera, Rob Saka, and Tanya Woo, under the leadership of Council President Sara Nelson, championed a moderate, fiscally responsible approach to city budgeting. Nelson consistently and accurately said the city has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.