SAN JUAN ISLANDER EDITORIAL: Property tax per capita statistic used to confuse

SAN JUAN ISLANDER EDITORIAL

Why per capita tax rate is irrelevant

posted 10/19/2009
Some opponents of the county levy lift are creating a distraction by making much out of the fact the county has the highest per capita tax rate in the state. This is a statistic which is not relevant to the discussion for several reasons:

The main flaw is the calculation used by the anti-levy people to come up with the per capita rate. They use the year-round population. A better way would be to take the number of houses (11,231 in 2000 according to the U.S. Census) and multiply by the average number of people per household.

So 11,231 x 2.1 = 23,585 people. The total tax bill for the entire county is divided by the population figure. Of course the population in the county is not 23,585, but that is a more accurate representation of the number of taxpayers since it includes the second-home owners. The calculation results in a $1,650 per capita tax rate. Skagit County's by comparision is $1,250.
Property taxes are paid per tax parcel not per person. To compare affordability, determine the tax bill for a home by dividing the assessed value by 1,000 and multiplying by the tax rate. This is what is relevant to a home buyer/owner.
Other factors which influence the per capita rate, only 7.5 percent of our housing is in multi-family compared to 25 percent in the state.
San Juan County has more shoreline and thus a higher percentage of expensive shoreline homes than any other county in Washington.

EDITORIAL: Property tax per capita statistic being used to confuse

By Sharon Kivisto

posted 08/11/2009
San Juan County has the lowest tax rate in the state. That is a fact. The property tax on a $450,000 house in 2008 was $2484.

The county also has the highest per capita tax rate in the state, $2386.81 per person. This is frankly a useless statistic for several reasons.

Using the per capita data: a two-person family pays $4773.62 and would own a $864,786 house. A family of four owns a $1,729,572 home. A family of eight would be in a $3,459,144 house.

As you can see, looking at taxes per capita does not relate to reality, the number is skewed by the number of very expensive properties in the islands.

Another reason, the per capita rate is meaningless for San Juan County is the number of second homes here. Appproximately 35 percent of the homes are unoccupied. If all of those homeowners moved to the islands and were then calculated into the populations, the per capita rate would drop substantially. Would anything have changed? No.

The same county government would be in place. The second homes whether occupied or not require county roads, stormwater, law enforcement (false alarms, response to renters), building permits, etc.

The per capita rate in San Juan County will be higher than other counties because it costs more to do things here. For example: We are the only county which barges garbage to the mainland, we have three transfer stations, we have to fly prisoners to jail.

The tax facts that are relevant are straightforward. We can choose to discuss and debate the type of county government we want and are willing to pay for. And we can do so in a civil manner sticking to the issues, the facts and the common good.

editor@sanjuanislander.com

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Why per capita tax rate is irrelevant

EDITORIAL: Property tax per capita statistic being used to confuse