Pasco council reaffirms opposition to state and local personal income taxes

The Pasco City Council approved Resolution 4763 on Monday reaffirming the city’s opposition to state and local personal income taxes and directing city staff to forward the resolution to state leaders and relevant associations.

Council discussed whether to also draft a city ordinance that would make future local income-tax adoption procedurally more difficult; the city attorney advised that an ordinance would be largely symbolic because a future council could repeal it. Several council members said they supported the resolution as a statement of policy while acknowledging broader conversations about tax fairness.

Council member comments noted the trade-offs in Washington’s tax structure. One council member said Washington’s current mix of taxes can be regressive and urged continued conversation about fairness for low- and middle-income households; others said a stable, predictable tax environment supports local business investment and workforce attraction.

Mayor read the resolution aloud to the council before the motion to adopt. The council approved the resolution by voice vote.

Next steps: the city manager is authorized to forward executed copies of the resolution to the governor, state legislators, the Association of Washington Cities, the Washington State Association of Counties and other governmental organizations as appropriate.