No additional property tax increases and CAP valuations | Letter

King County is asking for another increase in the levy on property taxes. In the past 20-plus years, I have supported increases in this levy to help schools, the library system and the multiple other requests for various needs which were to improve the quality of life here in King County.

King County is asking for another increase in the levy on property taxes. In the past 20-plus years, I have supported increases in this levy to help schools, the library system and the multiple other requests for various needs which were to improve the quality of life here in King County.

However, most of what I’ve noted is an enormous increase in the property taxes I must pay each year – which have currently reached astronomical rates as mega homes have been built into every cranny of the area and wealthy buyers have flocked in making purchases.

Valuation rates for property is at an all-time high resulting in enormous property tax bills for property owners, yet King County is back asking for more.

When will this stop? Not only do we not need an additional increase in the levy, we need to cap valuations which – at the current increases – will drive those of us who are retired and living on fixed incomes out.

There is something inherently unjust in a system that currently places a valuation of over eight times the original cost on a property, then charges a levy against that new evaluation, resulting in enormous taxes – and then ask property owners to increase the levy for even more.

No! A thousand times, no! No additional property tax increases and CAP valuations. I encourage all my fellow property owners in King County to vote no on Proposition No. 1 and to join me in demanding a CAP on property valuations here in King County.

Linda Bonin, Kirkland