Westneat: Seattle showdown: ‘Why export billions around state?’

Sent out by state Sen. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle, it’s a fresh analysis, from the state Office of Financial Management, of how government revenues and expenditures are shared among Washington’s 39 counties.

Which counties get more in state spending than they pay in taxes? And which are net “donors” of tax money to the entire state system (schools, colleges, prisons, welfare payments, etc.).

Punch line: The entire state is mooching off King County, not the other way around.

It turns out King County taxpayers exported a record $2.95 billion to prop up the state’s other counties in 2016, the most recent year studied, according to OFM. About 37 cents of every dollar of state taxes paid by King County taxpayers was spent elsewhere.

Where did the money go? Ironically the ever-aggrieved Pierce County is the No. 1 recipient, getting $508 million more than it gave in state taxes. Second is Yakima County, with a net gain of $395 million, then Clark County at plus $375 million.

Small Eastern Washington counties top the list if it’s scored by a ratio of help received to taxes paid. Okanogan County got back $2.07 in spending for every $1 it sent to Olympia in taxes.

In all there are 33 counties that pay less than they get, and supposed leech King County provides 97 percent of the money boosting those counties. The figures show King’s taxpayers sent the state $8.04 billion and got back just $5.09 billion in spending.

Perception

Carlyle, who sits on the state Senate’s Ways and Means Committee, says that as a liberal he’s normally fine with the imbalance, as richer counties should support the poorer ones. But now the “long-standing political compact” between west and east, urban and rural is fraying.

“Why send all this money to 33 counties if they’re going to turn around and strip us of our ability to pay for our own projects?” Carlyle said Tuesday. He cited the state Republican Party’s endorsement of Initiative 976, which will cut money for the Seattle area’s voter-approved transit projects. “I have no choice but to look at the state budget with fresh eyes and ask: Why are we exporting billions of dollars around the state?”

That’s the case I made in a “State of King” column recently. At some point the political system should just give red-county voters what they keep insisting they want, which is less government.

When I pointed out to one reader that Seattle subsidizes the rest of the state, not vice versa, he countered bluntly: “The rest of the state doesn’t care. The important takeaway here is not so much accuracy of facts but the perception of Seattle by the rest of us outside the city limits. It’s about making sure Seattle feels the pain the rest of us have felt for decades.”

Message received. Hey, uh, Seattle-area legislators: It sure sounds like they’re going to hate us no matter what. So might as well start bringing those billions back home?