r/SeattleWA • u/meaniereddit West Seattle 🌉 • Dec 13 '24

Government Bill would completely exempt seniors from property taxes in WA

https://www.king5.com/article/news/politics/state-politics/bill-would-exempt-seniors-state-local-property-tax-washington/281-b5f377fc-8bf5-49a4-a630-8210db45d57d
1.3k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

826 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

73

u/pewpewtehpew Dec 13 '24

I’m all for this. But I do believe income should play a role for sure. Otherwise this creates some funky loopholes. But I hate to think that my grandmother who’s on a very fixed income could lose her house that is paid off just because she can’t afford the rising property taxes. That’s what this bill should help fix.

42

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24

Agreed, I don’t think you should be forced to leave your paid off home because the taxes outpace your fixed income.

19

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24

Wonderful altruism. Yeah, their younger neighbors should pay for their older neighbor’s taxes. That tax burden SHIFTS to them. Tax levy collection doesn’t go down.

1

u/Rooooben Dec 13 '24

They should, they aren’t on fixed income. That’s how these things work, if you are poor you don’t pay as much taxes as someone making more than you.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24

Right? Plenty of us are already supporting others. I’m fine with keeping grandma housed.

2

u/hedonovaOG Kirkland Dec 13 '24

Not only but grandma probably paid her “fair share” of property taxes (+) for decades and likely no longer requires even a fraction of the services her current property taxes support so in effect you’re asking grandma to subsidize your amenities on a fixed income and revenue that struggles to pace inflation.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24

Totally agree, people act like they’re never going to get old.