Letters to the Editor
Letter to the Editor | Does Washington have a leadership problem?
Washington is a beautiful state situated in the fabulous northwest. It has the Pacific Ocean, the Olympics, the Cascades, and many other mountain ranges, the Columbia River along with many other rivers. We’re blessed with much natural beauty.
Washington also has no income tax. And, according to Forbes, Washington is one of only 9 states with an average energy cost under $100/month and Washington ranks 2nd behind only Oregon with the least expensive natural gas in the nation.
With no income tax and with low utility costs, you would think Washington would also be one of the least expensive states to live in. Think again. According to World Population Review, Washington is the 9th most expensive state to live in. Ninth with no income tax and low utilities! Here are the top 10:
10 most expensive states to live in
Hawaii: 186.9 cost of living index
Massachusetts: 145.9
California: 144.8
District of Columbia: 141.9
Alaska: 123.8
New York: 123.3
Maryland: 115.3
New Jersey: 114.6
Vermont: 114.4
Washington: 114.2
Many of the states ahead of Washington have high income taxes and yet we’re grouped with them. Does that make any sense?
Here’s where Washington ranks in various categories:
- 5th highest average home price
- 11th highest apartment rental rates
- 4th highest water rates in the US (surprising isn’t it? This appears to be driven by Seattle’s highest-in-the-nation water rates)
- 7th most expensive for groceries
- 3rd most expensive for transportation (WA’s gas tax is the 4th highest in the nation and it was just increased so Washington may be ranked in the top 3 now)
- 4th most expensive for health care
- 8th under miscellaneous costs
- Highest sales and excise tax burden (sales and excise taxes as a % of household income)
- 9th highest base plus local sales tax rate
On the plus side:
- 31st in property tax burden (property taxes as a % of household income)
I would like to see Olympia address the core drivers of our cost of living. For housing, more homes are needed to drive down prices and more apartments are needed to drive down rents. A major component of the largest tax and fee increases just signed into law by Governor Ferguson are increases in transportation costs which are already very high (3rd in the nation). Rent control is now in place which has never worked anywhere it’s been tried because it strongly discourages investment which is the only way to drive down rents in the long term.
I have no idea why our health care costs are so high, but maybe Olympia can take a deep dive into that problem as well.
So, we, as Washington residents, have no income tax, a low property tax burden, and a low utility burden. And yet, we live in the 10th most expensive state. That tells me that Olympia is clearly doing something wrong.
One final word: All of this data predates the largest tax and fee increases ever imposed on Washington residents by our friends in Olympia. I’m betting our new cost of living in our beautiful state, after taking into account what Olympia has done to us, will move us up the list at least three or four places—if not more.
Craig McLaughlin
Fox Island