There are two bills likely to pass in the 2025 Washington state legislature that proponents falsely claim are needed to “fund schools.” In fact, these bills are likely to drive property taxes so high in Washington state that they will lead to a “Taxpayer Revolt” which will cause local school levies to fail – and thereby reduce school funding. What these two bills do is continue “out-of-control” spending for all kinds of crazy scams – like funding laser hair removal and expensive drug cocktails for transgender inmates in our state prisons. In this report, we will review the recent history of our state budget and property taxes with the hope that we might avoid this tax nightmare about to be inflicted on families here in Washington state. Instead of driving families out of their homes with excessive property tax increases, we should be helping them stay in their homes by greatly reducing their property taxes.
Here is a graph of total state taxes from 2014 to 2023 based on Washington State Department of Revenue data:
The above graph includes the state portion of our property taxes and the state portion of sales taxes and business taxes – but excludes local property taxes and sales taxes. It also excludes gas taxes. Note that total state taxes rose from 18 billion in 2014 to over 36 billion in 2024. This doubling in state taxes occurred despite the fact that there was a one percent cap on increasing property taxes during the past 10 years.
Below is a graph showing that property taxes have increased by 72% during the past 10 years:
Our property taxes shot up from $10 billion in 2014 to $17.2 billion in 2023 – a 72% increase in just 10 years. Because of the McCleary School Funding Mess, (also known as the McCleary Levy swipe because it robbed over a billion dollars in local levy funds in 2018 and moved them to the state levy fund), there was a 1.7 billion property tax increase in 2018 and another $1.8 billion property tax increase in 2020.
Senate Bill 5798 is an insane bill which will remove this 1% limit and allow almost unlimited increases in state taxes. Instead of our taxes merely doubling in the next 10 years, our property taxes could TRIPLE!
This bill not only allows dramatic increases in state property taxes, it also allows huge increases in county, city and local property taxes – all without a vote of the people. In fact, there is no limit to how much your taxes can be raised if the taxing agency declares a "substantial need" related to public safety, criminal justice, and community protection services. Thus, this bill is a “blank check” to almost anyone who wants to raise your taxes for almost any reason – all without a vote of the people who will be forced to pay these taxes.
The good news is that a record number of people have signed in to oppose this bill. As of April 4, 2025, 45,175 people have signed in to oppose this bill and only 27 have signed in to support this bill. This was by far the highest number of people to ever oppose any bill in the history of Washington state. Here is a link to see the current number of people opposed to this bill: https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi/Senate?selectedCommittee=456&selectedMeeting=33213
Click SB 5798 Property Tax. Then click See who signed in for this agenda item:
To add your name to the list of people opposed to this bill, go to this page: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/?BillNumber=5798&Year=2025&Initiative=false
Then click Send a comment on this bill to your legislators.
The other bill to oppose is Senate Bill 5167 which is the 2025-2027 two year operating budget. Here is a link to oppose this bill: https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/?BillNumber=5167&Year=2025&Initiative=false
There are two versions of this bill, one passed in the Senate and a slightly different version passed in the House. Both are for about $78 billion – which is $39 billion per year:
Both versions are slightly less that the $40 billion per year budget that Ferguson wanted or the $41 billion budget that state agencies wanted. But both versions are still dramatically more than the previous Washington State budget for 2023-2025 which was about $36 billion a year or $72 billion per biennium.
In addition, the leaders of the Republican Party have proposed a “no new taxes two year budget that is $75 billion or $37.5 billion per year. Sadly, even the Republican budget continues most of the extremely bloated and wasteful spending of the Democrat House and Senate budgets. What is really needed is a 33% to 50% REDUCTION in the size of our bloated state government – rolling it back to what it was 10 years ago so that we can roll back state taxes to what they were 10 years ago. This obviously will not happen with our current legislature. But if there is a tax payer revolt, we might be able to elect a more fiscally responsible legislature.
On April 3, 2025, the House version of Senate Bill 5167 was rejected by the Senate. A conference committee was set up to resolve the minor differences between these bills. But regardless of what is decided, the result will be $39 billion per year – the highest budget in state history.
These huge property tax increases will drive up monthly rental costs and drive many families out of their homes
Washington state is already one of the least affordable states to live in the entire nation. Whether families rent or own their home, the last thing families need is a huge increase in state taxes.
How to fund schools without driving families out of their homes
As I have been advocating for more than 10 years, the solution to the ever worsening property tax increase nightmare is to follow three basic principles set forth in our Washington State Constitution.
Step 1: Reduce the Size of State Government
Just as our national government has grown to be extremely bloated, so has the government here in Washington state. Since he took office in 2017, Reykdal has added more than 130 paper pushing bureaucrats to his OSPI office in Olympia. https://fiscal.wa.gov/Staffing/StaffByBien
We need a Washington Department of Government Efficiency to audit every Washington agency to reduce our extremely bloated government.The goal should be to reduce every state agency by at least 33% back to what it was in 2016. This would allow us to save more than 10 billion dollars a year and allow us to roll back property taxes to what they were in 2016.
Second, we need to eliminate billions of dollars in illegal tax breaks to trillion dollar corporations like Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon. Article VII, Section 2 of the Washington State Constitution requires a uniform tax structure and Article II, Section 28 prohibits giving special tax breaks to any corporation for any reason.
All three of these corporations should pay their fair share of state taxes just like every other business. In fact, paying state taxes would not affect any of these corporations because they can deduct their state taxes from their federal taxes. So honoring our State Constitution would not cost any of these corporations even a single penny! The money saved by honoring Article VII, Section 2 of our State Constitution can be used to either reduce class sizes down to the national average – or once that is accomplished, roll back property tax rates across our state to what they were 20 years ago.
Step 3: Restore the Senior Homestead Exemption
Third, we need to restore the one property tax break that is allowed by our State Constitution – which is the Homestead Exemption for Retired Persons. Article VII, Section 10 states: “The following tax exemption shall be allowed as to real property: The legislature shall have the power, by appropriate legislation, to grant to retired property owners relief from the property tax on the real property occupied as a residence by those owners.”
It is a fact that many retired persons are forced to sell their homes because they are living on a fixed income and can not afford the ever increasing property taxes. The median home value in Washington state is currently $600,000 and is increasing rapidly. This is 50% higher than the national average home value which is about $400,000. We should begin by exempting the first $400,000 of home value for any retired person who is over the age of 65 with the goal of eventually exempting the first $600,000 of home value for any retired person over the age of 65. In addition, we should limit the exemption to retired persons who have a net worth of under one million dollars so that this exemption can be targetted to those retired persons who are actually in danger of losing their homes due to skyrocketing property taxes.
Reducing Property Taxes Helps Families with Children
The current property tax rate in Washington state is over one percent meaning that the average family faces a property tax bill of at least $6,000 per year or $500 per month. If we can roll this property tax bill back to under $3,000 per year (which is about what it was 20 years ago), we can save the average family $250 per month. This will not only allow families to put food on the table, but it will allow them to retain their family home and allow their children to remain in their local schools and retain their friendships with other local children. Many studies have shown that one of the best ways to maintain childhood mental health is by providing children with a stable home and community environment. Instead of driving families out of their homes with excessive property tax increases, we should be helping them stay in their homes by greatly reducing their property taxes.
As always, I look forward to your questions and comments.
Regards,
David Spring M. Ed.
Washington Parents Network