Pause to consider the tax increase of Seattle's Housing Levy

Seattle's Proposition 1, the Housing Levy, is a 68 percent tax increase. Did anyone notice that? Publicola didn't. It said the levy sets "the same tax level as the last housing levy."

Nice try, progressives. The expected rate per $1,000 of assessed value is the same. The amount to be taken from property owners the next seven years, $145 million, is up from $86 million in the past seven.

I received a card from Yes for Homes, and was looking for some reference to that 68 percent. I couldn't find it. I couldn't find the word "tax," either. I found the word "renew" five times, and a lot of smiley photos.

Their one reference to a tax increase was that renewing costs "only $5.50 a month ... most of which is already paid for in the current levy... "

Already paid for? You mean, I'm paying already.

I note also that donors are paying more than $300,000 to pass Prop. 1. The top 20 donors are development groups, building companies, architectural firms, lenders, unions and advocacy groups. The head of the campaign is an officer of Key Bank.

The campaign for the levy — and there is none against it — is funded by the people who expect to make a living from it.

That is not unusual. It was that way, for example, with the Seattle Monorail Project, which was promoted by the people who expected to build it.

At the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the circularity in supporting and designing the levy "gave us pause," said George Allen, senior vice president. So did the 68 percent increase. In a recession, some Chamber folks thought, a smaller tax would be better, with more for immediate rent assistance.

"We were never wanting to oppose the levy," Allen said, but for the first time the Chamber is neutral.

In its statement, the Municipal League also said the 68 percent "gave us pause." The Muni League endorsed the levy as did this editorial page.

Seattle is the only city around here with such a levy, though it is not the only one with subsidized housing. State and national programs offer other subsidized housing.

Seattle's extra effort is not cheap. Adrienne Quinn, director of the Office of Housing, said the levy has gone up because land has gone up. "With growth management," she said, "we shrink the land area available." The average unit in the last levy cost $198,000, though only a quarter of it was levy money, the rest being federal and state dollars.

With the same money, Seattle might have helped far more people if it had simply bought apartment houses that were for sale. During the last levy, the average sales price of a Seattle apartment house increased from $97,000 to $155,000 a unit, says Mike Scott of Dupre + Scott.

In fact, the city has bought apartment houses in several instances, and intends to buy more. But there is a political reality to the Housing Levy: Passing it requires cash, and the checkbooks are held by a stable of companies that design, finance and build new public housing.

I've been hearing from them in the mail. Twice, now. Also from the press, where opinions are of such a progressive uniformity that The Stranger joked as it lined up to say yes:

"We support people! Up with people! Especially poor people who don't have homes! We want to get them into homes built out of infrastructure using our tax dollars! Because, hey, we're not heartless!"

No, not that. I'm thinking of a different word.

Bruce Ramsey's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is bramsey@seattletimes.com