(The Center Square) – The Seattle City Council has approved, by a vote of 8-1, a 0.1% public safety sales tax despite acknowledging its impact on low-income taxpayers.
The sales tax is anticipated to generate $39 million in 2026, according to Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s budget proposal. Harrell must sign the council bill before Oct. 18 to receive the whole year’s revenue. Failure to do so would result in anticipated revenue dropping $9 million in the first quarter.
The public safety sales tax increase – authorized by the state Legislature via House Bill 2015, with generated revenue only allowed to go toward public safety needs – aims to bridge funding gaps, although the city’s updated General Fund Financial Plan shows a $140 million deficit beginning in 2027, even after assuming passage of both the business and occupations tax restructure up for vote in the Nov. 4 general election, along with the new public safety sales tax.
Through the sales tax increase, Harrell’s 2026 budget proposal includes an additional $9.5 million in funding to double the city’s Community Assisted Response and Engagement Department, or CARE, from 24 nonpolice responders to 48. The department consists of behavioral health experts who are dispatched to calls that involve people experiencing a crisis. In turn, police resources are freed up to answer other calls.
Seattle City Council Chair Sara Nelson said she was in favor of the tax measure because it adds revenue for substance and behavioral health treatment services. She acknowledged that the tax is regressive, but noted that the state gives local jurisdictions a limited set of tools to raise revenue.
“When we invest in getting people off the streets and into treatment, we prevent crime, reduce emergency responses and make every neighborhood safer,” Nelson said during Tuesday’s the city council meeting. “And that is smart public safety spending and more importantly, it is the moral thing to do.”
Seattle City Councilmember Maritza Rivera, the lone no vote, has opposed the proposal since it was first introduced last month due to its impact on low-income residents, who will see taxes increase on items like clothing. Sales taxes are considered highly regressive, and Seattle’s current sales tax rate of 10.35% exceeds that of other major U.S. cities, such as New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Boston.
“We know we have an affordability problem in Seattle and this proposal is just going to make things worse,” Rivera said.
The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce’s latest survey revealed that affordability is one of the most significant concerns for voters.
