AWC is prioritizing our efforts to ask the Legislature to revise the arbitrary 1% property tax cap in the 2025 legislative session. Find resources to help you communicate with legislators about this complex issue.
City sign-on letter to legislators: Act now to revise the arbitrary 1% property tax cap
- See which city leaders signed on to AWC’s letter urging the Legislature to take action to revise the arbitrary property tax cap from 1% to an optional increase of up to 3%.
Local published op-eds in support of lifting the cap
Fact sheets and resources
We are joined by a large coalition of other local government associations, a variety of labor organizations, and individual cities and counties.
Cities: Use the following talking points & myth-busters when talking to legislators
It’s best toshare your city’s local story about the people and services that are at risk without this vital funding source. Use the following fact-informed talking points that align with what other local officials are saying to help you:
- The current cap doesn’t reflect real life: The 1% cap is arbitrary and outdated, in that it isn’t connected to any data, and it does not keep up with population growth and inflation. In the last decade, population in Washington has increased on average 1.5% per year, while inflation averages 3% per year. This has created a structural deficit that only worsens every single year.
- It’s optional: Lifting the property tax cap for local government is not an automatic tax increase. It simply gives the option for an elected city council to make the decision to take it or not, based on local circumstances. Even now, not all jurisdictions take the current 1% increase each year. Providing the option gives the flexibility to local governments to balance their revenues to meet hyperlocal community needs by either taking no increase, 1%, 2%, or up to 3% depending on the inflation and population threshold.
- It’s modest: This proposal is a modest increase to meet basic, but critical needs. Going from a 1% revenue cap to 3% does not triple property taxes. In fact, raising a city’s revenue cap means that the increased cost for an average homeowner is generally less than $20 per year on average. This small and sensible increased cap would have a modest, but meaningful impact on local budgets. Some communities are in dire need of critical local funding, and this option could really help them.
Here are some tips for common myth-busters to help you:
- No, it doesn’t triple/raise property taxes exorbitantly: Going from a 1% revenue cap to 3% does not triple your property taxes, as some might imply. As the bills are written, they change the 101% revenue growth limit for state and local property taxes to 100%, plus population change and inflation—capped at 103%. This is a modest increase to meet basic but critical needs. This equates to a difference between $101 and $103 not $100 and $300.
- No, it’s not an instant/automatic tax increase: It simply gives the option for an elected city council to make the decision to take it or not, based on local circumstances. Even now, not all jurisdictions take the current 1% increase each year. For some communities, this potential for a local increase would be a lifeline to support critical services that their residents want and need.
- No, it’s not undermining the voters: The voters elected city leaders to make local decisions on their behalf, and city elected officials are immediately responsive and accountable to the needs of their constituents. This local option empowers city elected leaders to make decisions close to home on behalf of their residents who delegated them such decision-making power in the first place.
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