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Originally published Wednesday, April 1, 2009 at 1:23 PM

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Sales tax takes a hike for Sound Transit

A sales-tax hike of 0.5 percent, or a nickel per $10 purchase, took effect today in King County, Pierce County, and urban areas of Snohomish County. The money will fund a Sound Transit expansion.

Today, in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, you're getting the sales-tax increase most of you said you wanted.

A sales-tax hike of 0.5 percent, or a nickel per $10 purchase, took effect today to fund a Sound Transit expansion.

Voters last fall approved Proposition 1, which called for the higher sales tax to extend light rail to Lynnwood, north Federal Way and the Overlake Transit Center, near Microsoft, by the early 2020s. The $17.9 billion plan is supposed to expand express-bus service 17 percent and boost capacity by two-thirds on Sounder commuter trains between Pierce County and Seattle.

The new tax comes on top of the Sound Transit sales tax of 0.4 percent that was already in effect, and a Sound Transit car-tab tax of $30 per $10,000 of vehicle value.

A typical adult will pay about $69 a year in new sales taxes, according to estimates made last year. The estimate for the median household, earning about $65,000 a year, is about $125 more a year (in current dollars).

Starting today, in King County, the sales tax is 9.5 percent, for most purchases, and 10 percent in a restaurant or bar.

In urban areas of Snohomish County (served by Sound Transit), the tax is now 9.4 percent. In most of Everett, the tax is 9.1 percent.

In Pierce County: the sales tax in Sound Transit territory is 9.3 percent.

Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company

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Comments (68)
Well we just bought $1500 worth of curtains: out of state, online, no tax. New Camera? JR Music online, no tax. You can do most of your big...  Posted on April 1, 2009 at 1:42 PM by Seattle Dude. Jump to comment
Sound Transit will be removing $750 million from approximately 1 million households in the next 12 months alone.  Posted on April 1, 2009 at 3:16 PM by irredacted. Jump to comment
I voted against this boondoggle and will be changing my spending habits accordingly. Tax evasion is now a part time job in this state and...  Posted on April 1, 2009 at 2:38 PM by I'm Fed Up!. Jump to comment

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