Bill would let King County use short‑term lodging tax for community‑led equitable development, proponents say

The House Finance Committee heard testimony on SB 51 38 on Thursday, March 13, which would allow a public facilities district in a county with a population of 1.5 million or more to use convention‑center lodging tax revenue attributable to short‑term rentals for community‑initiated equitable development in addition to affordable housing programs.

Michelle Harris, staff briefing the committee, explained that public facilities districts are municipal corporations with independent taxing authority that can be created by a city, a group of cities, a county, or a combination. Harris described the existing tax framework: within the largest city in a district the convention‑center lodging tax cannot exceed 7 percent and 2.8 percent in the rest of the district; an additional 2 percent can be imposed inside the largest city as a credit against state sales tax. When the district collects revenue attributable to short‑term rentals within a city that does not impose its own short‑term rental lodging tax, the district distributes those revenues to the city; after the city share…