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Hold on! Don't pay all your property taxes yet

All over the state, homeowners have been shocked by the increase in property tax bills to pay for education.

State lawmakers have promised relief, but up until Thursday, majority Democrats have said that relief must wait until next year -- 2019.

Thursday that changed, says Issaquah Democrat Sen. Mark Mullet.

“The bill does have $400 million of property tax relief. It just gets bundled into your October payment.”

Property taxes are spilt into two bills due six months apart.

Mullet says you must pay the full property tax bill due April 30 on time. But he advises taxpayers not to prepay taxes due Oct. 31.

Mullet says, “Don't pay your entire year bill in April, pay the April half. You need to pay that half, I want to make sure people know got to pay that one but the October half we should have time to adjust it lower."

On a house valued at $500,000, the October 2018 discount will be an estimated $175.

Mullet says this will work because the lawmakers will send county assessors money they can use to pay for recalculating the second half of your tax bill before it is due in October.

“If you've already paid your whole tax bill are you out of luck? At this point, you know, we'd have to come up with a separate legislative fix for those people. Because I think just under the simple rules of our Constitution it's challenging to do that,” Mullet says.

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