The Seattle P-I chimes in today with another story of the local housing bubble’s windfall tax revenues for local governments. Specifically, this story is about the city of Seattle.
Everybody’s talking about Seattle’s red-hot housing market.
People who want to buy in, people who want to cash out and people who are getting rich off the magic carpet ride. Local and state political leaders are no different, eyeing the housing market with a combination of glee and caution.
Seattle will bring in about $15 million more than expected in real estate excise taxes this year.
That’s one of the revenue streams that allowed Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels this week to propose expanding city services rather than add to cuts he’s had to make during his tenure because of a sluggish economy. But Seattle’s booming housing market is about to level off, according to top state and local economists.
Will they spend, or will they save the extra money? Considering who we’re talking about (politicians) I wouldn’t put my money on “save.”
(Chris McGann, Seattle P-I, 09.28.2005)