64 Replies to "ELECTION 2026: Get ready to vote on sales-tax increase for transit in November"

• Michael Waldo July 21, 2026 (6:48 pm)

  I am sorry, I need to move out of seattle. As a retired person, I can’t afford all these property taxes. The library tax is next.

  • WSB July 21, 2026 (6:55 pm)

    To be clear, this is not a property tax, it’s a sales tax. The library tax IS a property tax, and it’s on the ballot that’s due in two weeks.

  • Seattlite July 21, 2026 (6:59 pm)

    M Waldo…I understand your dilemma.  Property taxes and sales taxes are out of control. Spending is out of control.

    • Derek July 21, 2026 (7:18 pm)

      We could just tax income…but yall don’t like that either. You all want private companies ruining your state, Texas is that way >

      • Marina July 21, 2026 (8:12 pm)

        What I really want is for the state to reel in spending. We now have both Christine Gregoire and Gary Locke pointing how out of control the state’s budget has become. We can start with not fully subsidizing bus fare for 12,000 residents. Sorry guys, pay your own fare. In fact, how about we do something really radical and start enforcing fares? 

        • Derek July 21, 2026 (9:15 pm)

          Okay then cut spending on roads and cops. Cut subsidies for tech and Boeing. Cut Vulcan and big dev kickbacks. Cut the M & E tax. Oh wait you won’t. I rather keep taxing gas to pay for transit until ridership is sustained enough to support cheap and self-sustaining fares. I rather fight to get transit fee than doing regressive fare enforcement that requires too much labor.

        • Jon July 22, 2026 (12:51 am)

          Please, consider the alternative: if you provide fares for those that need them most you provide political cover to begin cracking down on enforcement with twice the vigor! Example: If you truly cannot afford the fare look into this program and you will have no further excuse, you may happily ride the bus; if you do not get the pass or are just free-riding to steal the metro milk out of our children’s mouths then sorry, you go to jail and we take $200. Everyone wins

      • Adam July 21, 2026 (9:33 pm)

        I want to move to San Diego and all I’m ever told is “too expensive”, “Cali homeless is out of control”, “taxes are too high”, etc. They always say I should just stay here. My wife met a new coworker that just moved here from SD. Her immediate impressions about Seattle within just a few short weeks or months: “homeless way worse”, “food way more expensive”, “taxes so high”, etc. So maybe we already pay a ton, Derek. Maybe we aren’t getting what’s advertised when they ask for that money. Maybe there’s a point where ppl get fed up, or do you just think everyone’s wallet should be tapped endlessly regardless of outcome, or efficiency ir effectivity issues?also I’ve been to TX and while it’s not my #1 choice, it’s not “ruined” just cuz ppl down there don’t toe your party line. 

        • Jon July 22, 2026 (12:43 am)

          Shoot, it sounds like San diegans must have a happier life and spend less than we do up here! Does anyone know how we might replicate their tax rates and social spending to get to that promised land

        • Jort July 22, 2026 (1:00 am)

          I really don’t think you want to get into the facts & details of comparing taxes between Seattle and California. Your friend’s anecdotes, while I’m sure are very sincerely held feelings, are quite unlikely to match reality. 

  • Roger July 21, 2026 (7:52 pm)

    Many seniors qualify for reduced property taxes and utilities. You have to apply for these benefits.

    • anonyme July 22, 2026 (6:04 am)

      Without those benefits, I would have been living in a box long ago.  However, those benefits aren’t enough to make living here in any way affordable.

    • Rob July 22, 2026 (7:19 am)

      Roger you have to be almost broke to get the senior discount. 

  • Jon July 22, 2026 (12:55 am)

    If you want to move it is a pretty hot market right now and other people would like to live here, so I encourage you to follow your goals. Many people are choosing sun belt states.

• Drd July 21, 2026 (7:14 pm)

  Just vote NO!

• CarDriver July 21, 2026 (7:21 pm)

  Why do they need to had out free passes? They let so many ride without paying as it is.

  • K July 22, 2026 (12:00 pm)

    The free passes include programs like SPP Orca cards, to help parents of preschoolers get to school and weekend activities on the bus.  It’s not just cards for poor people, or adults.  But every one of them increases Metro usage, which makes space on the road and benefits us all in many ways.

• Jay July 21, 2026 (7:27 pm)

  It’s gonna cost like $17 a year and dramatically increase bus service. Nobody complains when taxes are raised for cops. This and the libraries are so inexpensive but give us a massive, outsized benefit. Even if you’re against taxes or against regressive taxes you should vote for these. 

  • My two cents July 21, 2026 (7:37 pm)

    Fact: King County/Seattle Metro bus service has not reached pre-pandemic levels. Fact: Proposed levy will expand bus services (among other things). One might be given pause to consider the efficiency of utilizing tax dollar base in addition to the cost/benefit. I would be a proponent of expanded bus transit if it makes sense.

    • Lauren July 21, 2026 (8:57 pm)

      My two cents, bus service also was drastically cut during the pandemic to many neighborhoods, and never returned. Could this be part of the reason why ridership hasn’t reached pre-pandemic levels? (I say this as someone who no longer has weekend bus service and would dearly love it.) 

      • anonyme July 22, 2026 (6:08 am)

        Same here, Lauren.  Arbor Heights no longer has ANY bus service on weekends, and minimal service during off-peak weekdays.  Even peak trips have been cut since the pandemic.  I have never seen an improvement in service in the last 20 years no matter how much money is demanded – and always received.  More and better service is promised, but then cuts ensue instead.

      • The Real JP July 22, 2026 (10:38 pm)

        Was spending on bus transit cut during the pandemic? If yes, were those cuts commensurate to the decline in ridership? 

        • WSB July 22, 2026 (10:57 pm)

          There is some Metro budget/pandemic info a few pages into this:
          https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/SDOT/MetroServiceCuts_TAB_062420.pdf
          Topline seems to be at the time, Metro was facing a big ugly deficit and providing less service during the pandemic allowed that deficit to be a little less big and ugly. (Added after reading further in: In some cases, they increased service to compensate for social distancing reducing the number of people who could ride in a bus.)

  • Amy July 21, 2026 (7:42 pm)

    This! Thank you Jay!

• Ian July 21, 2026 (7:54 pm)

  We have record breaking ridership this summer and there are somehow people against this

  • Anne July 21, 2026 (8:52 pm)

    No -no you shouldn’t. 

  • Anne July 21, 2026 (8:54 pm)

    Yeah while ⚽️ fans were here.  No more sales tax -no more property tax increases. 

  • Mike B July 21, 2026 (9:10 pm)

    While I’m for expanded transit service, it’s not all sunshine and roses.We had a couple days of record-breaking ridership on Link, and we’d sure hope so with the serious expansion of Link under ST2 and World Cup coming together. Today, Link’s average daily ridership is ~155,000 whereas in 2019, Link’s average ridership was 80,000/day when it was a third of the size. Without the Pandemic, the ST2 Link network we have today should have around 250,000 daily riders. And of course, ST3’s program cost has gone from $54B in 2016 to ~$150B today with significant cuts in what’ll get built by 2050.King County Metro’s average ridership is still ~100,000 below where it was in 2019 before the Pandemic. They really seem to be struggling with route modernization and RapidRide upgrades throughout the county.

  • Adam July 21, 2026 (9:38 pm)

    Do you foresee another World Cup in our future? C’mon, you thought that would just escape us? As if nobody remembers 2 weeks ago?

  • K July 22, 2026 (6:02 am)

    Link broke ridership records before the World Cup started.

    • Mike B July 22, 2026 (10:01 am)

      Yes, Link did and the new bar is 280,000/day. Otherwise, Link better be setting some new records when extensions opened, so that bar is fairly low. Let’s see what the new normal is before we start calling regular days “records”.

      • K July 22, 2026 (4:35 pm)

        Seattle had the most-used light rail system in the country even before the World Cup.  Whatever goalposts you want to move around, we are still setting records with ridership.  A ton of people want to take transit, and the more transit you take to them, the more people will ride.

• Natinstl July 21, 2026 (8:26 pm)

  No more taxes! It’s becoming impossible to live here. Such BS too, we want to make things easier for low income people, but all these increases do is raise costs in other areas for all of us including these people. I do not believe that we are not wasting money in places that they should be looking at for ways to gain revenue, 

  • Lauren July 21, 2026 (8:59 pm)

    Good news, they are. With the so-called Millionaire tax. (A name I truly dislike because it’s actually a tax on household taxable income EXCEEDING more than $1 million per year.) 

  • Derek July 21, 2026 (9:21 pm)

    Are you aware there’s all time inflation and tariffs and we rely on regressive sales tax over taxing the wealthy? Are you aware of the labor shortages? Missouri is one of the most tax-less places in the country and it’s probably the worst ran state. Or Alaska. In fact red states are constantly supported by wealthier blue states. You guys are free to move. Or we can tax income and have things affordable. So tired of the “start spending less and balancing the budget” yet you get mad when we take away funds for cops or kickbacks to big tech.

• Mike B July 21, 2026 (8:57 pm)

  For us West Seattleites, if not passed, the H Line loses about half of its daily trips per the STM’s website.  Other routes see a smattering of service provided by the current measure. Our other West Seattle routes would suffer as hours are redistributed throughout the network by KC Metro instead of Seattle working with KCM. Of note, the new measure doesn’t specifically lay out where new service is going, just that it’ll be figured out though the usual Seattle Process.One rub is C Line service was trimmed last year from every 8 min to every 10 min and Routes 56+57 lost a couple trips, and those hours reallocated to other routes because our part of town doesn’t meet Seattle’s “equity goals”, per their release last year. Then there’s Routes 37 and 55, which seem to stay cut.On the Sound Transit 3 front, $6.1M/year funds 10 full-time positions ($600k/year each?!) to expedite permitting and working between agencies.

  • My two cents July 22, 2026 (5:09 am)

    @MikeB  I would support maintaining the current programs/services, just not expanding them at this point. 

    • Paul J. July 22, 2026 (1:05 pm)

      According to the presentations at the meetings, the cost of maintaining current levels of services would have involved a .225% increase in the sales tax.  This is because of the rising cost of bus service (union wages, maintenance, coaches, etc).  That is why Mr. Kettle proposed lowering the tax from .3% to .225%.  But, as Ms. Rinck pointed out, this was going to save households less than a dollar a month.  I loved Mr. Saka’s line about “progressive revenue fairies!”  Anyone who thinks those are going to show up is probably still waiting for the tooth fairy to pay them a quarter for that last tooth they lost.

  • Jay July 22, 2026 (8:39 am)

    It’s not $600k salary but a $600k spend adds an extra job. It can be vehicles, equipment, improvents, more mechanical repair needs, fuel, etc. 

• Smith July 21, 2026 (9:31 pm)

  Suppose that the taxing politicians will turn the lights off around here when we are all gone. They wouldn’t let themselves be held accountable for these actions.

  • Jon July 22, 2026 (12:06 am)

    If they wait until everyone has left to turn off the lights they sound both conscientious and energy-aware. I try to do this at home whenever possible

  • Jay July 22, 2026 (8:43 am)

    This type of comment is not normal. We need to stop normalizing this. This dramatic take that Seattle will fail if we spend another $17 on buses is the result of spending too much time in online bubbles and getting radicalized to think that this is a mainstream opinion. I encourage everyone, especially older folks who are getting isolated by platforms like Facebook and Nextdoor, to make an effort to get out to non-political community events and talk to more people offline. 

• Kathy July 21, 2026 (10:42 pm)

  It’s depressing to see bus stop signs with a “bus stop closed” bag over them  and cars parking in the stops instead. Or to see the frequent alerts saying that one or another of your bus routes is not operating today. This is not a good look for Seattle. The car traffic will just get worse. If you are a person who feels they have to use a private car to get around, this sales tax increase is a small down payment to get more cars off the road and do what’s right for the environment.

  • Helen M. July 22, 2026 (4:04 am)

    Most bus stop closed are due to LACK of rider ship at those locations not funding issues. And everyone needs to stop playing into the powers that be threats of if you do not vote for more taxes we will cut your routes,services etc. Working on government myself I know first hand that the threats are a planned play to fear people into voting for more funding. Be smarter people. 

    • K July 22, 2026 (4:38 pm)

      Funding cuts are what took out the 37, all day serive on the 56, and other transit options.  Plenty of people were riding the 37, but more were riding the C Line, so the less popular run got the are when they needed to cut.

• RJY July 21, 2026 (10:50 pm)

  Going to be the easiest NO vote in my entire life.

  • Jon July 22, 2026 (12:16 am)

    This is surprising, I would think voting NO on a city ballot measure would require a careful review of both sides’ arguments before a decision.
    For me the easiest NO of my life was in 5th grade when Mrs Bloom asked if we wanted to forego recess to do more math. I was thankfully in the majority

    • Brandon July 23, 2026 (2:35 pm)

      Well that makes sense. Maybe the class should have done more math. Then this region wouldn’t be the economic mess it is with a reckless spending problem.

• Jessica H. July 22, 2026 (3:58 am)

  A big NO vote! Economy is bad, transit in this region has ben a failure with mismanagement in budgets and wasted tax payer dollars. All while not meeting the legally required benchmarks in the levees.  

• WestSeattleVoter July 22, 2026 (5:41 am)

  Hard no for me. Make the billionaires pay, including the new Seahawks owner.🤣

• North Admiral Cyclist July 22, 2026 (6:03 am)

  I haven’t seen any specifics offered as to where the funds from doubling of the “transit” sales tax would go.  Does West Seattle get anything specific out of the renewal and doubling of this tax?  Do we get the 37 route back along Alki (“suspended” during Covid)?  Without specifics it is hard to justify voting for this tax renewal/increase.  I’m willing to pay taxes to support our community and I support transit, but I don’t want to continue to pay high taxes and get nothing in return for West Seattle.

  • WSB July 22, 2026 (9:47 am)

    The slide deck from a previous council meetings had “illustration only” examples of what MIGHT be done, and a couple of those were West Seattle routes, but since it was a “what we COULD MAYBE do,” it didn’t seem worth noting.

• Foop July 22, 2026 (6:27 am)

  Sales taxes are regressive, yes, but far less so than forced car ownership.transit levels aren’t prepandemic, they’ll never get there if we don’t restore more service. My life changes post pandemic, I don’t bus downtown for work anymore, I use the bus to go out for dinner and drinks and to explore areas of the city I don’t normally visit on the weekends, but bus service off peak is so abysmal I often bike instead, or yes, I’ll drive sometimes, but more often I’ll just stay home because the effort and stress of parking or missing a bus and having to wait 20-30 minutes isn’t worth seeing what’s new in Fremont or greenlake.If your argument is that ridership isn’t fully back, this will help get us there! A lot of folks won’t take the bus if they can’t rely on it to show up, or when frequencies easily add 20 minutes to an otherwise 20 minute ride.if your argument is that sales taxes are regressive, car ownership, maintenance, gas, registration costs far more than bus fares, and if you’re struggling financially, this tax enables you to get free fare to offset the regressive taxthis tax will increase the cost of every beer you buy by a penny, every meal you buy at lady jaye by 6 cents. The benefit far outweighs the cost in this case.You want to question spending? Question the record police contract that Saka and the council approved last year with zero stipulation of accountability or oversight and we didn’t get a vote on that. My neighborhood certain doesn’t feel well served by police. At least this tax will directly benefit everyone for a fraction of the cost.not all taxes are the same and I understand the concern here but if you don’t look at every ballot measure for what is it and broad stroke your voting pen, you’re going to cut off your nose to spite the face. This measure is a win, imagine voting no on all of these things we get to vote for and benefit from while our local leaders spend so much more on things we don’t get a say on, like curby, or turfing fields no one asked for, or exorbitant police contracts for officers regularly costing us millions for their behavior and violence against citizens.

• Delridge Dude July 22, 2026 (7:29 am)

  I applaud the Council for staying the course with sales tax and not counting on “progressive revenue fairies,” as CM Saka called the idealistic notion that alternative revenue sources will appear.  

  • Fritz July 22, 2026 (9:11 am)

    Applaud what exactly? That he wants to gut every social program and transit he can to fund weird personal interest gripes?

    • Delridge Dude July 22, 2026 (12:58 pm)

      I applaud him for being realistic about what funding sources are available.  There was a great deal of discussion about progressive revenue sources that do not exist.  If this was to happen, it had to involve a sales tax.  Period.

    • Jon July 22, 2026 (1:26 pm)

      No you don’t understand, everyone u-turns on Delridge at that intersection when you aren’t looking, that’s why benevolent rob spent two million dollars on some asphalt that I’ve never seen anyone use 

      • WSB July 22, 2026 (10:13 pm)

        Because comments too often get perceived as facts, a correction:
        CM Saka’s original “Curby” project was in for up to $2 million.
        When he and the former mayor announced the downsizing, the estimate was $500,000.

• Michael July 22, 2026 (7:35 am)

  I was already planning to vote yes since more routes and more frequency is good, but after seeing the pity party of peeps here complaining about a sales tax increase that amounts to an extra 20 bucks a year on average, I’m even more energized to vote yes. If you want to complain about taxes, you’re welcome to move to Florida or something. Enjoy the humidity and not being able to insure your house.

• jw July 22, 2026 (9:41 am)

  Open your books and show us your spending is being done correctly before we even think about giving you more money.  Then give us a breakdown of every penny your going to spend and how you going to prove to us that every penny is being spent correctly.  To much fraud going on with these different agencies. We have been out of control just voting YES on every ballot measure to increase taxes without accountability. 

• HAHAHA July 22, 2026 (9:54 am)

  When I first saw the headline I thought to myself “I bet they want it to double, just like they doubled the library levy” and sure enough…It would be nice if they built their budget based on actual need (ridership is still below peaks from years ago, hybrid work isn’t going away). Instead of being based on actual need, these proposals seem to be developed more as political statements. Double the funding, claim progressive victory, then figure out what to do with all the money. This is a recipe for waste.

• VeryPoorSENIORtaxpayer July 22, 2026 (10:27 am)

  Do you really think any city, county, or state operation should expand services when they are barely breaking even with their present operations. Every step of a business must generate positive income to the whole operation of that business. Expanding means buying more buses. Hiring more drivers/mechanics (who are unionized at higher cost plus their benefits). The Company’s increased operating cost. Stop spending money you dont have and get your financial house in order. Then I will vote “YEs”. The city of Seattle needs to live on a budget like the rest of us. JUST VOTE “NO”.

  • Jon July 22, 2026 (1:21 pm)

    Expanding while carrying debt is what many companies do on a regular basis and it can be a very sound financial move. If you are suggesting the government only fund programs that make money then I hope you either read a book or get prepared for a world without social security, Medicare, or any kind of social net

  • Lauren July 22, 2026 (2:48 pm)

    We’re not talking about a business. We’re talking about a government service. They’re two very different things, and as such should be run differently. 

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