The coming showdown over Seattle's money
By Danny Westneat
Seattle Times columnist
As readers of this column have delighted in reminding me, there was another potent force hard at work in our recent tax-slashing election: Seattle scorn.
“Quit whining, Seattleite. The rest of us are sick and tired of funding such a small section of the state,” read one typical postelection email.
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So it was perfect timing this week when a new report crossed my desk that is almost certain to annoy the rest of the state even more!
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Punch line: The entire state is mooching off King County, not the other way around.
It turns out King County taxpayers exported a record $2.95 billion to prop up the state’s other counties in 2016, the most recent year studied, according to OFM. About 37 cents of every dollar of state taxes paid by King County taxpayers was spent elsewhere.
Where did the money go? Ironically the ever-aggrieved Pierce County is the No. 1 recipient, getting $508 million more than it gave in state taxes. Second is Yakima County, with a net gain of $395 million, then Clark County at plus $375 million and Spokane County, which got $350 million more in resources than it gave.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/why-are-we-exporting-billions-of-dollars-around-the-state-the-coming-showdown-over-seattles-money/?utm_source=marketingcloud&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning+Brief+11-20-19_11_20_2019&utm_term=Registered%20User