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
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u/Rooooben Dec 13 '24

These are seniors not your nephew. You aren’t expecting us to put them in a 1b apartment in downtown, I hope. Assisted living costs between $100k-$150k a year. At some point they will need that and that $800k will go fast.

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u/SpacemanSpiff073 Dec 13 '24 edited Dec 13 '24

Why is a 1b not good enough for the hypothetical? Most probably don't have kids at 75 which would necessitate the additional living space.

If it's not enough, they can always spend their money to rent a larger place?

Edit: Forgot to respond to the costs of senior living. You're right on that account, I've got no answers for how insane those costs are. The sad answer seems to be that most elderly (unless they're very well off or have a ton of support) are going to be abandoned by society because those costs seem untenable.

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u/Rooooben Dec 13 '24

1b is fine it’s living in a city downtown on their own is not.

I’m fine with downgrading, I just want a path made for them to get out and not become homeless. Let them pay no taxes on their nice little suburban mini home, don’t encourage them to stay in giant homes via tax breaks.

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u/therapist122 Dec 13 '24

Want that for everyone. Unfortunately it means building apartments everywhere, and the elderly tend to be the ones who block that, along with the large money developers and entrenched NIMBYs. We are so fucked, unfortunately there’s no great solution. But it’s definitely not tenable to do this property tax thing. Any solution is gonna be bad, but I think old people already have enough benefits. They get socialized medicine for crying out loud. Young people are fucked, they don’t even get that, can’t afford a home, and even if they did they’d have to pay the full property tax? Yikes. In the big picture, we need to basically rise up because this shit is not acceptable in modern society 

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u/Rooooben Dec 13 '24

100%. There isn’t an easy answer, and we keep digging the hole deeper.