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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1872 | 5 |
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 4 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 3 |
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28 stories matching payer
- The Auditor's Ledger: A Financial Scandal in Pioneer Seattle
When tax-payers demanded answers about vanishing funds, the county auditor offered only vague excuses—and a newspaper editor called for a total house cleaning.
- Legislature Offers Tax Relief to Struggling Property Owners
A new bill aims to waive penalties and interest for delinquent taxpayers, while proposing a shift to semi-annual payments to ease the burden on residents.
- The Price of Power: Benton County’s 1916 Election Scuffle
Candidates in the 1916 election face off over county spending, with one challenger promising a tax-payer-funded bond to slash office costs.
- The Most Hard-Fought City Election in Yakima History
A three-way contest between the Citizens’, Taxpayers’, and Knights of Labor tickets reshapes the city council.
- The Price of Apathy in the 1876 Seattle Election
A pre-election plea from the Daily Intelligencer warns that if 'responsible' business owners don't turn out to vote, the city will pay a heavy cost in taxes and mismanagement.
- The City Collector’s Year-End Ultimatum
Before the turn of the New Year in 1877, Seattle’s city collector warned residents that delinquent property taxes would lead to the immediate seizure and sale of their homes.
- The Paper War: How Seattle’s ‘Public Thieves’ Exposed a Corrupt Ring
In 1872, the *Puguet Sound Dispatch* accused local officials and the rival *Intelligencer* of extorting taxpayers through inflated advertising rates for tax sales, framing it as a 'Tammany ring' stealing from the public.
- The Tax Swindle: How Seattle’s Printer Defrauded His Neighbors
In 1872, the publisher of the *Puget Sound Dispatch* exposed a collusive scheme between local tax collectors and a rival newspaper to overcharge delinquent taxpayers for legal notices, sparking a bitter war of words in the territorial press.
- Vigilante Justice Follows the Murder of a Pierce County Leader
A mass-meeting in Steilacoom formalizes the community's outrage over the vigilante killing of a citizen-slayer, reflecting deep distrust in the local courts.
- The Horror at Fort Steilacoom
A former minister exposes systemic abuse and torture at the territorial hospital for the insane.
- The Great County Road Grift
A skeptical resident argues that the proposed county road bond is a pork-barrel scheme that ignores the actual needs of the region's infrastructure.
- A Quack, a $125 Bill, and a Prosecution That Cost the County More Than It Recovered
A Thurston County letter-writer asks why commissioners and the county attorney spent the public's money to convict an irregular doctor over a small bill — and got nothing back.
- The Call for Women on the School Board
An editorial push to break the all-male tradition of the local school board, arguing that a woman's perspective is essential for educational oversight.
- Fair Play for the Bandstand Builders
When businessmen whispered that the contractors erecting Olympia’s bandstand were outsiders, a letter to the editor insisted that a family man who had spent $600 waiting for work deserved a fighting chance.
- The Price of Petty Quarrels
A neighborhood dispute over an oar results in a court case that leaves the taxpayers of Mason County footing the bill.
- The Auditor’s Open Revolt
A defiant Seattle county official squares off against the city’s tax-paying elite, sparking a public war of words in the local press.
- The Judge Who Scratched Out His Own Eyes
A Seattle judge’s legal flip-flop on municipal taxation sparks a fiery editorial showdown and accusations of corrupt land speculation.
- The Politics of Poverty: Seattle’s 1878 Voter Suppression Fight
A century and a half ago, local officials tried to implement a 'poll tax' to restrict voting rights, sparking a fierce debate over whether a citizen’s right to participate in democracy could be tied to their financial status.
- The Case of the County's Vanishing Funds
A local editor questions why county attorneys are pocketing tax collections while leaving the county treasury empty-handed.
- Anacortes Mayor Quits in Protest Against 'Subsidy Brokers'
A.P. Sharpstein steps down, accusing the city's powerful corporate interests of stifling growth and ignoring the needs of local citizens.
- The Struggle for Home Ownership in Early Seattle
An 1877 editorial argues that the city's growth is being stifled by speculative land hoarding, keeping affordable homes out of reach for the working class.
- The Territory's Legislative Snake
A scathing critique from 1877 exposes the 'headless and tailless' chaos of newly minted Washington tax laws, exposing a system designed to strip residents of their property through administrative incompetence.
- The Transparency Tax: A Seattle Taxpayer Rails Against Red Tape
In 1877, a frustrated taxpayer penned a public letter attacking the County Commissioners for mandating expensive, redundant audits of public records, arguing that government transparency should be an everyday right, not a high-priced administrative burden.
- Olympia's 1891 City Election: Ward Caucuses, Backroom Maneuvers, and a Fight Over Fair Play
As the Third Ward nominates a councilman and candidates jockey for mayor and treasurer, a taxpayer protests a plan for a mass convention that would sideline ward delegates.
- The Conquest Mine Strikes a Twelve-Foot Vein—and Newport's Mining District Wakes Up
A rich assay at the Conquest mine promised dividends, new work and a revival for the Pend Oreille mining district.