Property-tax bills start arriving in West Seattle (and the rest of King County)

If you own property here and/or elsewhere in King County, it’s tax-bill time. This year’s property-tax-due amounts have been visible online since last Friday, and paper bills are now arriving in USPS mail. As usual, the amount due is broken into two installments, one due at the end of April, one due at the end of October. Both the paper bills and the online versions show the breakdown of what percentage/dollar amount goes to each taxing entity. You can go to kingcounty.gov/propertytax or find your property on the King County Parcel Viewer site and follow the path to “property tax bill.”

Findlay February 20, 2025 (1:46 pm)

My property tax bill has gone up $2000 since 2022 for our modest house. Crazy!

BR February 20, 2025 (2:49 pm)

My goodness…..mine is up 9% from last year! Up 120% since we bought in 2015.
justme February 20, 2025 (2:53 pm)

It’s hideous! Especially when the goal is to not sell your home. Some people’s opinions is that we should feel lucky the home’s value has increased as much as it has. But, if the plan was to stay put to be near family and pass the home on to kids, the rise in costs/taxes makes one want to change plans, or be forced to. And for those who think getting a senior reduction on property taxes is doable, look into it further. You have to be either extremely low income, or do it as a deferred plan whereas the tax debt gets attached to the home and eventually has to be satisfied by your heirs. I’ve had friends attempt to get there’s lowered with a senior reduction but it only made a difference of less than 100.00 per month. The fine print is concerning.
Jeepney February 20, 2025 (4:20 pm)

Pretty simple for the jump in taxes – levies.
- Rob February 20, 2025 (11:44 pm)
  
  Yep. They keep voting for them, this is where it lands. Stop being shocked.
- Bbron February 21, 2025 (1:04 pm)
  
  Except it’s not. Levy rates have maintained around the same point the last 6 years and are at an all time low if looking back to the 80s. The numbers are as free to access as this blog; don’t need to continue to spread misinformation
  - Logic February 21, 2025 (7:05 pm)
    
    Why did people vote on the levies if the bill was going to increase anyway?

Josh February 20, 2025 (3:00 pm)

This was a surprise. We thought it would be about the same. Is everyone’s going up this much? Ours when up by $700 in Westwood.

Rob February 20, 2025 (3:03 pm)

Now close to 7800 house payed off but it’s now like paying rent on a pension

West Seattle Mad Sci Guy February 20, 2025 (9:53 pm)

FWIW $650 a month isn’t even close to rent. ($7800/12). But I appreciate it sucks to pay taxes on a fixed income. Price we pay for our (local) society…

David February 20, 2025 (3:03 pm)

We spend more on property taxes every 10 years than we spent on our house in 1984 – taxes should be based on the last selling price not on a fictitious number that the house might sell for

KM February 20, 2025 (8:05 pm)

Okay, but you only get to sell your house at the price you bought it at.
WS Res February 20, 2025 (8:18 pm)

“taxes should be based on the last selling price” – obviously the case, because as we all know, the cost of everything it takes to support that property in terms of infrastructure and services also remains the same as when it was last sold. /s

VapoCOOL February 20, 2025 (3:15 pm)

Welcome to the reality of voting Yes to the tax levies. first half is due in 10 weeks. :D

Jay February 20, 2025 (4:54 pm)

It’s not the levies, it’s the assessments. The levies are chump change compared to the exponential assessment values growth. Stop trolling.
- ltm...mgm February 20, 2025 (5:35 pm)
  
  WOW stop trolling? How is giving one’s opinion trolling and it could had been mis-wording?
- JP February 20, 2025 (7:15 pm)
  
  Have there not been measures approved to increase the levy despite this period of record appreciation in assessed valuation?
- Wsresident February 21, 2025 (5:12 am)
  
  Chino change my rear, I calculated the Levi’s increase and it was close to $1000 a year for my house.
1994 February 20, 2025 (9:14 pm)

My tax statement says $1900 of my $8600 tax is the levy amount. So yes, voter approved levies do add a chunk to the tax bill.

Les February 20, 2025 (3:55 pm)

I now have to pay $7300 in property taxes for a 980 square foot house.

K February 20, 2025 (6:41 pm)

The tax is on your whole property, not just the house. That dirt under and around your house is costing you a pretty penny. My house is more than double the size of yours, but my tax bill is smaller.

Jay February 20, 2025 (3:57 pm)

My property value has gone up 50% in three years. I read a report that showed assessments rise fastest in the poorest neighborhoods while they barely budge in affluent neighborhoods. Unfair assessments are an extremely regressive stealth tax. My assessment went up by $58,000 since last year. I have to pay an additional $1,000 every year.

Haller February 20, 2025 (4:30 pm)

Keep voting yes on those property tax levies! And renters, your landlord’s property taxes are jumping up too on the building in which you live, so expect rent increases to help cover the added expenses.

Anne February 20, 2025 (4:50 pm)

Shouldn’t be a surprise-Seattle votes yes on every levy, initiative that raises property taxes. There’s a bill being discussed that would raise the cap from 1 to 3% so look out !! For those upset that rents are too high- part of those higher rents are because of the rise in property taxes.

Bbron February 21, 2025 (1:13 pm)

Rents have increased far faster than property taxes, so the main reason for high rents is from market forces and landlords taking advantage of renters. It may surprise you that being a homeowner doesn’t magically grant you with the knowledge and understanding of economics; renters are just as keyed into what’s going on. We’re human all the same as it turns out.

Jay February 20, 2025 (4:58 pm)

A quick look at my old apartment and other private equity owned apartments shows the assessed value going down. This really is just a big tax on working people to subsidize Wall Street.

North Admiral Neighbor February 20, 2025 (5:02 pm)

Just a friendly reminder that any seniors who are 62 years or older and earn less than $84,000 can apply to have their property taxes frozen and drastically reduced. I helped out my mother with this recently and her bill went from about $9000/yr to $1400/yr.It’s quite a bit of effort to sign up and takes several months to be approved, but once you do you only have to re-apply every couple of years.

justme February 20, 2025 (7:44 pm)

Be careful to read the fine print. The “frozen” part is deferred and will need to be paid back via the sale of the house eventually. Lot’s of people only find this out later.
- Bbron February 21, 2025 (1:15 pm)
  
  Yeah, as it ought to be. The supporting infrastructure still costs the same, and should be contributed to all the same. The point is to delay paying so people can continue to live in their home, not have the public subsidize the growth of someone’s asset.

Peter S. February 20, 2025 (6:38 pm)

Up 13.92% for me :( I used Parcel Viewer to “spy” on my immediate neighbors. Low was up 9.11% High was up 19.10% with one notable exception. The house up the street sold in 2024 for (IMO) a ridiculous price. But, the market has spoken, so what do I know? Their property taxes jumped 39.56%.

Back in the day, the assessed valuations lagged behind the market enough that it was rarely worthwhile to challenge the assessments. No longer true. Now, thanks to tools like Zillow etc., any neighborhood sales are quickly rolled into comps and reflected in nearby property valuations. That’s great if one is looking to sell soon. Not so great if one sees a house as a place to live.

Henry P February 20, 2025 (9:04 pm)

When I saw my property tax bill it made my blood boiled. My bill for this year is $6900 which overall increase nearly 65% from 5 years ago. Based on the current trajectory my bill is going to be over 10k a year within the next 4 years if not sooner.

Duffy February 20, 2025 (9:52 pm)

Real estate “value” is now a tool used to tax the everliving hell out of the middle class. It’s pathetic and our leaders do nothing to address it.But hey, glad the real estate industrial complex keeps opening store fronts in the junction. It really adds to the culture of the neighborhood to have a bunch of retail spots filled with fake fiduciary realtors that only perpetuate the madness.

Jessica February 20, 2025 (11:42 pm)

Renters shouldn’t be surprised at their rental rates increasing. Looks like my landlord’s tax went up ~1,200

K February 21, 2025 (6:39 am)

Looking forward to everyone here voting in favor of income tax, so we don’t have to rely on property taxes to fund everything in the future.

new guy February 21, 2025 (9:02 am)

Here are the numbers on our home:

2024: $775,000 $7559.47
2025: $867,000 $8663.55

So as noted by some commenters, it’s true that some of the increase is due to increased valuation–an 11.8% increase in valuation would result in a larger tax bill even if various levy rates had held constant.

In that scenario, we would have projected a tax bill of $8456.85.

However, some of the increase is due to increased levy rates, because the total tax due increased by 14.6% (which is more than 11.8%).

The math above suggests that approx $206.70 (8663.55-8456.85) of the increase is attributable to increased rates of taxation on levies and otherwise. This is about 19% of the total increase of $1104.08.

Overall, then about 20% of our increased tax bill was due to increased rates, and about 80% due to increased valuations.

Obviously, each home will have its own valuation change to deal with, and the experience might be different than ours. It’s quite possible that for some people, the increased levy rates constitute most of their increase; the fact that this wasn’t our experience doesn’t change their experience. It’s fair to say that both factors–valuation and levy rates–are part of the tax bill that folks received, and the real question remains: are we getting our money’s worth for the taxes we pay–whether we like the current amount or not.

Speaking personally, I’m hard pressed to find anyone who believes that we are.
WS Guy February 21, 2025 (10:08 am)

How about we elect some representatives that slash the cost of government? I don’t see the point of adding a new type of tax when the city and county have no fiscal discipline.
AK February 21, 2025 (10:54 am)

Never will vote for a income tax!!! Ever!! Your not taxing my income that I work hard for!

Paul February 21, 2025 (7:51 am)

Yes, ours is way up. 12% more than last year. Almost $2 k more. As senior citizens on fixed income, it getting close to having to get out of our forever home Regardless of how worthy new levies are sold to the public,I began voting NO on everything. Time for them to figure another way to finance their big dreams.

Joan February 21, 2025 (8:45 am)

Yes, we sorely need a state income tax, and then better see lower sales and property taxes. But somehow those never go down.

Víctor February 21, 2025 (8:49 am)

Living in a large city is expensive. Especially in The United States. Seattle is a large city.

WS Guy February 21, 2025 (10:05 am)

Mine has gone up 10% each year for the past 10-12 years. It’s ridiculous. I feel sorry for the landlords that have to keep raising rents just to pay these taxes.

wetone February 21, 2025 (12:31 pm)

And just to think that state has no problem jacking our taxes by double digits, yet wants to hold landlords to max 7% rent increase and many more expenses… New bill will be win win for big investors and developers that control market today. While wiping out small ma and pa’s that own a couple rentals. If you think rentals are expensive today just wait ;) People just keep passing levy’s with no accountability, crazy stuff. Senate Bill 5222 prohibits landlords from raising rent and fees more than 7% during any 12-month period. They could set the rent at whatever level they want at the start of someone’s tenancy. The bill also requires landlords to give 180 days notice before an increase of 3% or more and limits some move-in and deposit fees.

k February 21, 2025 (3:15 pm)

Thank you for bringing attention to this legislation so I can call my senator and voice my support for it.

Roxhill February 21, 2025 (4:21 pm)

Crazy how quick people in these comments point at levies and completely ignore the (massive) increase in home value that they benefit oh so much from come time to sell. Also people bemoaning landlords are pathetic, they’re half the reason your property value is skyrocketing, if they had even a moment’s issue they could always, ya know, sell the property for a gain…. Get a grip.

Admiral-2009 February 21, 2025 (4:23 pm)

Has anyone else noticed that the property tax bills are sent out after the levy votes?

K February 22, 2025 (1:32 pm)

Tax bills are sent at the same time every year. Levies are voted on in February, August, and November sometimes. Sometimes the dates will line up, sometimes they won’t.
- WSB February 22, 2025 (1:55 pm)
  
  Don’t forget April – a reader pointed out to me that the fingerprint ID system (county levy) is coming up then.

North Admiral February 21, 2025 (8:48 pm)

I keep voting for every politician and ballot measure that makes my life worse and property taxes go up. So why is my life worse and property taxes going up ?

Kitcat February 21, 2025 (9:27 pm)

Let’s vote on levies and tax issues only once per year to understand the total impact to the tax bill. It’s much easier to get measures passed when it appears to be a small change, followed by another small change next quarter and so on. Small changes add up.

Sorry, comment time is over.