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Rantz: Five additional taxes will hit King County courtesy of Democrats

Mar 18, 2025, 4:57 AM

King County Council raising taxes...

The King County Council hard at work scheming up taxes to take our money. (Photo: King County TV)

(Photo: King County TV)

King County Democrats continue to spend like drunken sailors and residents are about to pay the price 鈥 again. Five new taxes are in the hopper and one Republican county council member is sounding the alarms.

“We need to start cutting costs because right now costs, people’s pocketbooks, their fear and insecurity about the economy, their income, the price of living, (is going) way, way up, and nobody’s thinking about them, or seniors on fixed incomes, single moms, all of it,” King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn explained on “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH.

What’s on the horizon for King County residents? A parks levy which, as it’s currently drafted, would be a 24% increase on property taxes, a road improvement district, an Emergency Medical Services levy authorization, an Automated Fingerprint Identification System renewal, and a tax of up to three-tenths of 1% for criminal justice, according to Dunn.

Democrats tell you new taxes are necessary. They’re not.

While King County Executive Dow Constantine and his county council allies claim taxes need to go up, otherwise the government won’t be funded, it’s a strategic lie meant to recklessly increase spending.

Under Constantine鈥檚 failed leadership, along with the Democrat-controlled council, King County鈥檚 spending ballooned nearly 45%, far outpacing population growth and leading to a staggering $150 million budget shortfall for 2026-2027. Rather than acknowledging reckless spending as the culprit, Constantine鈥檚 office blamed the budget crisis on the state鈥檚 1% cap on annual property tax increases 鈥 conveniently ignoring that it had no issue funding progressive pet projects like spending tens of millions on homeless hotels that no one wants, don’t work, and are still unopened.

Dunn previously noted on “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH that the current King County budget represents about $13 billion in 2015 dollars 鈥 which is a 44% increase in funding. The population increased by only 17.6% during the same period. Joe Biden-era inflation, which Democrats pretended wasn’t happening, obviously places a strain on budgets, but not to the extent to justify the five tax hikes.

King County wants more money but not serving residents

While King County demands more of our money, we’re getting fewer services and poorer customer service.

“Remember, the overwhelming majority of the King County staff is still working from home, right? They’re not even in the office or in the courthouse or at those licensing offices 鈥 in places where we need people to be to help the citizens. They’re still working from home,” Dunn explained.

To help address the reckless spending, Dunn proposed cutting funding to the controversial and ineffective Restorative Community Pathways juvenile diversion program. He calls the approach “activist-driven,” which is why we’ve seen such . As Restorative Community Pathways gained more of a foothold on addressing crime, juvenile lawlessness has exploded across the county.

“We must hold the line on the spending, and the first thing you got to do is you got to start cutting programs that don’t work,” Dunn explained.

Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the聽podcast here. Follow Jason Rantz on聽,听,听听补苍诲听.

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Rantz: Five additional taxes will hit King County courtesy of Democrats