In 2019, I remember thinking that Seattle was a bit kooky with all its squalor, but statewide things were pretty balanced. “Just go live on the north side and you’ll be ok”
Then in 18 months we experienced 15 vehicle break-ins, the park outside our library in Seattle turned into a big homeless encampment, etc., so when the lease was up we moved to Bellevue instead.
Today, we own 3 small businesses and employ around 50 people here locally. We collected and paid almost twice as much in state taxes as we paid ourselves last year.
I moved here from Norway originally, so I know what high taxes are like. But the big difference, broadly speaking, is that in Norway the government sort of works. And here, I have endless anecdotes by now about different ways the state and local government is falling short of what to me are reasonable expectations.
So in that environment, it’s just puzzling to me that the priority is to implement this tax as an “emergency”, with all its negative consequences, so that they can lower the sales tax on shampoo and give out free school lunches..
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