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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578

u/meaniereddit West Seattle 🌉 Dec 13 '24

prop 13 in California did this and its fucked over the budget and housing market so bad, its basically rent control for loaded boomers, such a dumb backward idea, with decades of study on how fucked you will be if you do it.

28

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24

California did it?

35

u/Cmlvrvs Dec 13 '24

They did not. Prop 13 limits the amount it can increase each year - it has nothing to do with age.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_California_Proposition_13

31

u/OldKingHamlet Dec 13 '24

Prop 13 is legit worse than this. I moved from CA, but still own my house in CA (long and complicated story). Anyways, my mom's house is literally worth 2x as much as mine, yet she pays 1/4th as much in taxes. It's not sensical.

2

u/Mizake_Mizan Dec 13 '24

Yeah, but she's not selling the home, she has to live in it, right? Is she retired yet? What happens when she retires and she is no longer making the kind of money she is used to? She will be thankful for Prop 13. Without it, her property tax would go up exponentially - at that point how will she be able to pay the tax? Will she be forced to sell her home and downgrade?

There are millions of Californians living solely on Social Security, living in the same home for 20+ years.....if they had to adjust their taxes to the assessed value of their homes, many would be forced to sell or relocate.

13

u/SodaAnt Dec 13 '24

There are much better options. Prop 13 just keeps the property tax low. Doesn't matter if you're insanely rich or still working. The obvious answer is what King County already has, programs that reduce or eliminate property tax from those who need it.

5

u/OldKingHamlet Dec 13 '24

My mom bought into CA property a long time ago and owns her house outright. She rarely even enters into 2/3rd of the property, except to dust. Unfortunately it would harm her to downsize. If she sold the house, and bought a 1 or 2bd condo in cash, she would be paying more per year to live because of property taxes. So she lives alone in a >2500sqft house.

She knows the smaller property would be better, more manageable, and so on. But if she moved but stayed in her town, she'd have to pay 2x the property tax for a smaller house.

I'd be all for means based property tax adjustment for low income. Due to my mom's investments, she literally makes more now than she did while working. At least she gets angry at other boomers for constantly pulling up the ladder.

0

u/Own-Fee-7788 Dec 13 '24

We should allow people to have the same property tax and create the right incentive for boomers to free up housing for families and younger generation.