Seattle's sales tax will rise from 9.5 to 9.6 percent starting Wednesday.
Get ready for a tax hike, Seattleites.
On Wednesday, Seattle’s tax rate will rise from 9.5 percent to 9.6 percent, a raise voters approved last November.
The extra tenth of a percent will add funding to King County Metro Transit service in the city. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray last year estimated the sales tax bump would generate about $21 million for public transportation. Voters also approved an increase in car-tab fees. Combined, Metro will get about a $45 million boost.
Originally on the ballot to prevent Metro service cuts, the money generated from Seattle’s tax will now go toward adding routes and mitigating overcrowding. The King County Council stopped making service cuts when sales-tax revenues unexpectedly rose in the fall before the Seattle vote.
According to data published by Metro, passengers took nearly 121 million trips on transit in 2014 — the highest number in 10 years. The agency reports 76 percent of buses were on time last year. Metro’s operating costs have also grown year over year.