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.
It is now practically settled that the legislature will take such action in the matter of delinquent taxes as will afford to the tax-payers substantial relief. The joint committee on revenue and taxation, of which Senator J. M. Frink is chairman, has reported a bill providing that the penalty and interest on the delinquent taxes for the years 1892 and 1893 be entirely remitted if payment be made on or before July 1, 1895. If payment is made on or before December 1, 1895, then the penalty and one-half the interest shall be remitted. The committee has also recommended certain amendments to the existing law on revenue and taxation, providing that hereafter taxes shall be payable in two semi-annual installments. These concessions are certainly most liberal. They afford to delinquent tax-payers a full measure of relief by remitting entirely the penalty and interest on overdue taxes for the past two years.
“These concessions are certainly most liberal. They afford to delinquent tax-payers a full measure of relief.”
The struggle to balance municipal revenue with the economic realities of property owners is a perennial Seattle issue. Just as the 1895 legislature sought to prevent mass tax defaults, modern Seattle continues to debate property tax levies and their impact on housing affordability.
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