Letters to the Editor
Letter to the Editor | Comparing leadership in Washington state
We need to become aware of how our leadership in Washington state is doing — comparison is a good way to start.
The August 5th, 2025 GHN Letters to the Editor had a ‘wake-up’ article questioning the leadership of Washington State. We need to pursue that a little further.
The outcome of the last super majority (skewed) legislative session left the State in a serious deficit situation that was ‘solved’ by raising taxes with no effort to address spending. This, as history shows, can lead to an unjustifiable tax burden, and a taxing imbalance, on the citizens. That eventually leads to drastic measures being required to correct (to wit the Federal level actions underway to avoid the financial precipice we face).
It is a challenge for citizens to quantify raw statistics but one valid way for us to judge our state’s performance is to compare Washington State to the rest of our nation. Fundamental state government responsibilities include providing safety, ensuring quality education, and managing cost of living. I’ve taken a quick look at those using a ‘Google’ approach.
1. Law Enforcement Per Capita: Per multiple sources Washington State ranks last in the nation in terms of law enforcement officers per capita. AI has this to say: Low staffing: Washington has held this position (50th) for 13 years in a row. In 2022, Washington had 1.36 officers per 1,000 residents, the lowest on record.
2. Law Enforcement Pay: Washington ranks 3rd in the nation for highest law enforcement average salary (behind only California and Illinois). This begs the question: With high salaries why are we ranked dead last in the number of law enforcement personnel and struggling to attract recruits?
3. Burglaries: A law firm study revealed that Washington’s burglaries per capita was 548 per 100,000 more than double the national rate of 254. An FBI study report yielded the statement “Washington has the most burglaries per capita by far”.
4. Homelessness: Washington ranks 3rd (behind California and New York) in the number of homeless and 8th in the number of homeless on a per capita basis. Seattle is infamous.
5. Drug arrests: Washington’s drug arrests more than doubled from 2023 to 2024. The crime picture is not good.
6. Teacher salaries: Washington has one of the highest pay scales in the nation for teachers but is “stuck in the middle” for math and reading and has experienced declines compared to pre-pandemic levels.
7. School safety: School safety is in 24th position.
8. Cost of living: This is particularly important, especially to those on fixed incomes and those impacted by regressive fuel and sales taxes as a part of their expenses. Washington’s gasoline tax jumped 21% on July 1st and another jump is planned for 2028. There is more. The newly enacted 2% yearly increase on gasoline taxes has the June 2025 tax (49.4 cents per gallon) growing to 61.8 cents a gallon in 2028, a 25% increase! (Does this sound a little bit like the levy-lid-lift scheme we have struggled to comprehend before?) Oh, by the way, we were 4th highest of the 50 states for gas tax before the July 1 jump – and now?
9. Annual increase limits on property taxes: Although Olympia did not pass the proposed increase in the maximum amount your property taxes can increase from 1% to 3%, it’s unconscionable that it was entertained, at all. Home values are rising steeply dragging the taxes up commensurately. This is already taking its toll. The 1% limit was put into place to protect homeownership, and it appears that goal is no longer important to many in our state legislature.
10. Tax on unrealized gains: There has actually been talk in the legislature of a capital gains tax on unrealized gains on certain assets. “Unrealized’ means a gain on an asset you haven’t even sold yet! No other state does such a thing.
11. There are many other new taxes and fees: The $12 billion in new taxes and fees come from many sources. One can seek out the whole list of taxes/fees created because it goes on and on.
12. Increases in local taxes: New laws have made it easier in some cases for local taxing entities to raise their tax rates. I can’t imagine what the impetus is for our State Legislature getting involved in that.
The indicators above are a shocking start to judging current performance and imagining future consequences. Getting more data on the mix of expenses (social services vs basic responsibilities) for comparison will take more work, but must be done and must be presented to the public so the public has a fuller understanding of the state’s condition.
That is some of the real knowledge needed as we go to the polls to vote.
More to come.
Jim Braden
Fox Island