About the Puget Sound Taxpayer Accountability Account

The Washington State Legislature passed Senate Bill 5987 in 2015 which created the Puget Sound Taxpayer Accountability Account in the state treasury as a part of transportation funding legislation. The account will be funded from a sales and use tax offset fee of 3.25% of total payments made by Sound Transit on the cost of construction projects from “Sound Transit 3” as approved by voters in 2016. 

State law requires Sound Transit to pay the fee until $518 million in payments have been made to the account; and funds from the account are to be distributed to King, Pierce and Snohomish counties proportionally based on each county’s population in Sound Transit’s jurisdictional boundaries. Sound Transit estimates Pierce County will receive $123 million in total funding between 2019 and 2035 and Pierce County may use these funds “only for educational services to improve educational outcomes in early learning, K-12, and higher education, including, but not limited to, youths that are low-income, homeless, or in foster care, or other vulnerable populations” as prescribed in Section 43.79.520 in the Revised Code of Washington section (RCW).