Just two weeks after announcing a planned sales tax increase, King County Executive Girmay Zahilay and King County Council members are poised to instate a .01% sales tax increase on Oct. 6. Pitched to the public as necessary to help homeless youth and families, the council is bypassing the voters and imposing it through simple majority vote.
While this councilmatic vote is authorized by the Legislature, here are three things that should pique the public’s interest about this tax hike.
First, over the last decade, taxpayers have given King County massive amounts of funding for youth homelessness. One source is the approximately $1.2 billion dollars generated through the Best Starts for Kids levy between 2016 and 2027, of which the Youth and Family Homelessness Prevention Initiative is a core element. That levy is now at the center of the largest financial scandal in King County’s history after the county lost multiple millions of dollars due to waste and potential fraud. Problems with financial practices within Best Starts for Kids have been public knowledge since as early as 2021, but county leaders ignored the warning signs. Sadly, the full extent of loss of public dollars remains unknown.
In short, on the heels of the revelation that King County lost untold millions of dollars, the county now intends to claim more money from taxpayers for the very services the missing dollars should have funded. The inappropriateness of this just adds insult to the injury of yet another regressive tax increase during an affordability crisis.
Second, this tax hike that King County leadership is pitching as being for youth homelessness isn’t actually restricted to that use. The tax ordinance has an “undefined spending plan” that gives the county “broad authority to determine how proceeds resulting from the sales and use tax would be allocated.” Council members have publicly spoken of their intent to put the money toward “other areas that the state allows” including for “noncounty organization projects related to community development activities” — a description so vague it could mean almost anything.
This mismatch between King County’s promised intent and the lack of actual spending guardrails leaves us vulnerable to a bait-and-switch tax increase reminiscent of last year’s public safety tax increase, when leaders sought a slew of expenditures that didn’t have much to do with their claimed purpose at all, such as homeless shelter space. King County’s repeated tactic of misleading the public about what our dollars will be spent on is poor governance and should concern us all.
Finally, in the last five years, King County government has developed a favorite strategy: first, lobby the Washington Legislature for the authority to raise taxes without going to a vote. After receiving that taxing authority, King County then imposes the increase with a vote of the council, without much public discourse. This is the process King County used to impose the Health Through Housing levy in 2021, the Doors Open arts and culture levy in 2023, the Safe and Stable Communities public safety tax in 2025, and now this youth homelessness tax. King County government has already lobbied for the authority to implement a new public health tax, so we can anticipate this to be hitting our pocketbooks shortly.
Without a change of course, this constant drumbeat of council-imposed tax hikes will only continue, even as many families struggle to make ends meet. In an era where there is no political fallout from King County’s disastrous disregard for taxpayer dollars, we need more public engagement with county spending — not less.
The words of The Seattle Times editorial board last September still ring true: “This is the way of local governments around here: Basic functions go hungry while the funding of community groups continues at such a reckless pace no one can properly keep track of the dollars.” When it comes to youth homelessness, we’ve provided ample funding — over a billion dollars in the last decade. The reason King County leaders need new funding is their own mismanagement. It should enrage those who care about homeless children that so much of the funding has not gone to their aid as it should have.
King County voters should look beyond marketing ploys for new taxes that are designed to target our compassion. Instead, our compassion should motivate us to hold public officials accountable. It is a deep injustice not just to taxpayers, but to the vulnerable who we intend to help, when public dollars are flagrantly wasted. We must demand our leaders treat our money as a finite resource instead of a bottomless cup that taxpayers will endlessly refill — especially when those leaders are sidestepping a public vote.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify how King County Council is able to hold a councilmatic vote.
