The Empty part is downtown, which as of now has a 38.5% office vacancy rate. Yes, that’s 38.5%!!! Office buildings for sale have sold for 20-30% of their assessed value; restaurants are closing every day; entire chains of stores have been closed due to high theft and vandalism risks. That “high-cost” part? Well, on January 1, the Seattle minimum wage for ALL workers crosses $22.00 per hour.
The reason given? High costs, taxes, and minimum wage. Also, regulations like mandatory provision of paid time off, sick leave, and health insurance for all employees. And don’t forget the state B & O tax which taxes gross receipts before any expenses.
So, here’s the latest “Insult to Injury” story in Seattle. Socialist Mayor Katie Wilson’t new budget sent to the City Council includes a large increase in the Parking Tax on private lots and garages. As of now, that tax adds 14.5% to the hourly cost of parking downtown. While other cities like people to come downtown to shop, and encourage them with low rates, Seattle does its best to discourage people from driving downtown to shop, making parking ridiculously expensive (up to $20 per hour). Now, Wilson has requested a rise in the parking tax rate to 17%!! Here’s an explanation.
Seattle wants to raise the parking tax from 14.5% to 17%.
Add sales tax and you’re paying 27.55% in taxes just to park. That’s about $5.50 in tax on a $20 stall.
Downtown office vacancy is already 35.8%. More than a third of it sits empty.
The mayor’s plan closes a $175 million hole “without tax increases.” Except this one.
And they wonder why nobody comes downtown.
Here’s another take from a local radio station. And these commentators are more than mildly leftist!
Some excerpts.
Ursula explained what that would mean for drivers on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. A $20 parking charge, which she noted is low for game days, would include about $5.50 in total taxes. The proposed increase alone would add 50 cents.
“Just wanted to bring up that it’s going to get even more expensive,” Ursula said.
Quick trips and dinners come with an added cost
For Gee, the cost is hardest to justify on short trips downtown.
“If you want to go downtown Seattle and you want to go to a store and you want to grab something really quick, you have to tack on at least $12 to whatever it is because you’re going to be in there for five minutes,” Gee said.
Ursula agreed.
“You’re like, man, that’s an expensive little trip,” she said.
Gee added that parking can also raise the cost of special occasions.
Please also remember that Mayor Katie Wilson has had exactly one job in her entire 43-year life. She was the head of the “Seattle Transit Riders Union,” a group that never had any effect on even one city policy until she became mayor. Then, she had the city Transportation Department remove a general purpose car lane from a heavily-traveled downtown street to create a bus-only lane for the bus route that SHE RIDES. Self-dealing anyone? How many big-city mayors do you know who do not own a car? Zero, I’m betting.
Seattle is, truly, dying. It is being helped along by a Socialist Mayor who knows literally nothing about real life, and the lives of the real people that her government is trashing.
Oh, and one more thing… The King County Council just added a new Sales Tax, which will make the combined sales tax rate in Seattle 10.56%!
Seattle and King County literally run the State of Washington, with a combined 30% of the entire state population. All levels of government
