TACOMA, Wash. — The Tacoma City Council has approved a 0.1% increase in the city’s sales tax to generate funds for public safety and criminal justice programs.
In practice, it means shoppers will pay an extra 10 cents of tax on a $100 purchase.
The increase will become effective April 1, 2026, and is expected to generate around $7 to $7.5 million annually.
This new tax will raise Tacoma’s sales tax rate from 10.3% to 10.4%.
City leaders have not specifically identified exactly which programs the tax revenue will support, but the city has some flexibility in how the money can be spent.
Funds from the tax can support a variety of public safety and criminal justice programs, including domestic violence services, reentry work for inmates, alternative response programs, mental health crisis response, programs that reduce homelessness, and more.
Council unanimously approved the tax on January 6.
“Taxes are never fun,” said Councilmember Latasha Palmer. “This is one of the things that we have available to us in order to fulfill some of the things that we’re trying to do at the city.”
“We have very limited funds and what’s available to us is dictated to us by the state legislature and this is one of the tools that the recent legislature has given us,” said Deputy Mayor Joe Bushnell.
KIRO 7 received mixed reactions from people who live and work in the city.
“If my money is going to go benefit other people that are less fortunate than me then I say go for it,” said Neill McLaughlin, who works in Tacoma.
“Sure they need it, but they don’t need more money,” said Tacoma resident John Piatt. “They ought to take the money from where they’re wasting it.”
Other municipalities, including Seattle and Renton, have implemented similar sales tax increases.
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