Mayor Katie Wilson wants voters to double the city's transit sales tax, from 0.15% to 0.3%, for ten years. City Hall says that is about $138 million a year for more bus service, the Seattle Streetcar, subsidized ORCA cards, and money toward Sound Transit light rail. A typical two-person household would pay about $58 a year more for that piece alone. If it passes in November, Seattle's combined sales tax lands around 10.7% to 10.8%, already among the highest in the country.
That is not the only increase. This week King County approved a new 0.01% sales tax, no public vote, because the legislature let them. Officials say it is for shelter and rental help for homeless children and families. It is one penny on $100, about $4 a year for the median taxpayer, up to $10 million a year. It starts January 1 and pushes Seattle's sales tax to 10.56% before the transit measure is even counted.
Wilson's first budget did not add a big new business tax. It freezes the JumpStart payroll tax and closes a $175 million gap mostly with cuts. She has still left a local capital gains tax on the table for later.
Here is the backdrop. A new analysis for the Downtown Seattle Association and the Seattle Metro Chamber found city tax collections up 172% since 2013, to a projected $2.8 billion in 2026. Population grew 31%. Jobs grew 23%. Businesses now carry about two-thirds of city taxes. The city still lost more than 18,600 jobs from 2024 to 2025.
They keep saying the money is for buses, shelter, and housing. The bill keeps landing on a sales tax the poorest residents feel first, in a city that already cannot keep jobs.