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A one-day special session of the Washington Legislature
re-established a 1% cap on annual property tax levies that the
state Supreme Court threw out on a technicality just weeks
earlier.
The new legislation upholds
I-747, which capped annual increases of certain property tax
collections at 1% unless voters approved a higher levy. Some
property taxes, such as school taxes, are not subject to the
cap.
I-747 seeks to restrict
total levies collected – not individual property assessments.
Critics say it's not a true 1% cap because hundreds of local
taxing districts can still increase property tax levies by more
than 1%. They can do so because they did not increase property
taxes to the maximum allowable level in past years.
Lawmakers pledged to put
property taxes at the top of their agenda for the regular
legislative session beginning in late January.
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