JumpStart revenue and uses by year

What this dataset measures

The JumpStart tax was passed in 2020 with a spending plan that put 62% of revenue toward affordable housing. Comparing the plan with each adopted budget's actual allocations shows how much went to the General Fund instead, and comparing forecasts with collections shows whether revenue fell short of what was promised.

Geography

Seattle, Washington, United States

Unit of observation

Budget year by use of payroll expense tax proceeds

Update cadence

Annually, when the City adopts its budget

Curator

FactHub Research Team

Curated data tables

JumpStart revenue and uses by year

Total payroll tax revenue, the budgeted transfer to the General Fund, and the budgeted affordable housing amount for each year.

Unit of observation: Year and series

jumpstart-uses-by-year.csv text/csv · 2.4 KB (2,455 bytes)

All 19 rows 7 columns Download the file

All 19 rows

year	series	amount_musd millions of US dollars	budget_stage	value_type	source_id	note
2021	Tax revenue	298	actual	observed	cbo-2728-gf-revenue	Total 2021 tax obligations (about $297M in the 2026 Adopted Budget)
2022	Tax revenue	266	actual	observed	cbo-2728-gf-revenue	Total 2022 tax obligations
2023	Tax revenue	315	actual	observed	cbo-2728-gf-revenue	Total 2023 tax obligations
2024	Tax revenue	362	actual	observed	cbo-2728-gf-revenue	Total 2024 tax obligations ($359M in the 2026 Adopted Budget); rates rose in 2024
2025	Tax revenue	390	actual	observed	cbo-2728-gf-revenue	Total 2025 tax obligations
2026	Tax revenue	394	forecast	estimated	cbo-2728-gf-revenue	Revised 2026 forecast, September 2026
2027	Tax revenue	407.9	forecast	estimated	cbo-2728-gf-revenue	Forecast in the 2027-2028 Proposed Budget
2021	Transfer to General Fund	214.3	adopted	observed	cbo-2021-revenue	All 2021 revenue was budgeted in the General Fund by design (Ord. 126109 and 126393 Sec. 3) for COVID relief and continuity of services
2022	Transfer to General Fund	85.4	adopted	observed	cbo-2022-revenue	Transfer allowed by SMC 5.38.055.A pre-pandemic revenue baseline
2023	Transfer to General Fund	100.6	adopted	observed	cbo-2023-revenue	$85.9M proposed by the Mayor plus $14.7M added by the Council; excludes $7.9M administration transfers
2024	Transfer to General Fund	84.1	adopted	observed	cbo-2024-revenue	Excludes $2.8M temporary flexibility items
2025	Transfer to General Fund	304.6	adopted	observed	cbo-2025-revenue	$85M one-time fund balance plus $219.6M of 2025 revenue; later revised down $33.3M by 2025 legislation
2026	Transfer to General Fund	201	adopted	observed	cbo-2026-revenue	47% of payroll tax appropriations; excludes $10M administration transfer
2027	Transfer to General Fund	173	proposed	observed	cbo-2728-revenue	38% of appropriations; a further $65M pays for homelessness programs previously in the General Fund; excludes $10M administration transfer
2023	Affordable housing	137.6	adopted	observed	cbo-2023-revenue	Housing and Services category
2024	Affordable housing	140.2	adopted	observed	cbo-2024-revenue	Housing and Services category
2025	Affordable housing	136.2	adopted	observed	cbo-2025-revenue	Housing and Services category
2026	Affordable housing	143.1	adopted	observed	cbo-2026-revenue	Affordable housing and related services
2027	Affordable housing	142	proposed	observed	cbo-2728-revenue	Affordable housing and related services

7 field definitions

Field	Type	Meaning	Units	Value type
year	integer	Budget or tax year.	—	observed
series	string	Tax revenue, Transfer to General Fund, or Affordable housing.	—	observed
amount_musd	number	Amount in millions of nominal dollars.	millions of US dollars	observed
budget_stage	string	actual, forecast, adopted, or proposed.	—	observed
value_type	string	observed or estimated (forecast).	—	observed
source_id	string	Id of the dataset source for the row.	—	observed
note	string	What the amount includes or excludes.	—	observed

Sources

1. City of Seattle, City Budget Office 2021 Adopted Budget, Revenue Overview: $214.3 million of payroll tax budgeted in the General Fund for 2021

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record (City of Seattle). Public government document; linked, not redistributed

   Reliability: Government. Official adopted budget book prepared by the City Budget Office. It reports the City's own budget decisions, which this dataset compares with the City's spending plan.

2. City of Seattle, City Budget Office 2022 Adopted Budget, Revenue Overview: $233.9 million forecast and $85.4 million transfer to the General Fund

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record (City of Seattle). Public government document; linked, not redistributed

   Reliability: Government. Official adopted budget book prepared by the City Budget Office.

3. City of Seattle, City Budget Office 2023 Adopted Budget, Multi-Department Revenue Summary: $100.6 million General Fund transfer, $137.6 million housing, $294.1 million forecast

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record (City of Seattle). Public government document; linked, not redistributed

   Reliability: Government. Official adopted budget book prepared by the City Budget Office.

4. City of Seattle, City Budget Office 2024 Adopted Budget, Multi-Department Revenue Summary: $84.1 million General Fund transfer, $140.2 million housing, $305.7 million forecast plus about $20 million from a rate increase

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record (City of Seattle). Public government document; linked, not redistributed

   Reliability: Government. Official adopted budget book prepared by the City Budget Office.

5. City of Seattle, City Budget Office 2025 Adopted Budget, Multi-Department Revenue Summary: $304.6 million General Fund support, $136.2 million housing, $541.7 million appropriations

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record (City of Seattle). Public government document; linked, not redistributed

   Reliability: Government. Official adopted budget book prepared by the City Budget Office.

6. City of Seattle, City Budget Office 2026 Adopted Budget, Multi-Department Revenue Summary: $201 million (47%) General Fund transfer, $143.1 million housing, $429 million appropriations

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record (City of Seattle). Public government document; linked, not redistributed

   Reliability: Government. Official adopted budget book prepared by the City Budget Office.

7. City of Seattle, City Budget Office 2026 Adopted Budget, General Fund Revenue Overview: 2025 Adopted forecast ($440.5 million, derived as $385.4 million plus $55.1 million) and 2026 forecast ($392.7 million)

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record (City of Seattle). Public government document; linked, not redistributed

   Reliability: Government. Official adopted budget book; payroll tax forecasts come from the City's Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts.

8. City of Seattle, City Budget Office 2027-2028 Proposed Budget, Multi-Department Revenue Summary: $173 million (38%) General Fund transfer, $65 million for homelessness programs, $142 million housing

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record (City of Seattle). Public government document; linked, not redistributed

   Reliability: Government. Mayor Katie Wilson's proposed budget, released September 22, 2026; the Council had not adopted it when retrieved.

9. City of Seattle, City Budget Office 2027-2028 Proposed Budget, General Fund Revenue Overview: total tax obligations for 2021-2025 and revenue forecasts for 2026-2027

   Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record (City of Seattle). Public government document; linked, not redistributed

   Reliability: Government. Proposed budget book; the payroll tax history is the City's most recent published account of collections by tax year.

10. Washington Research Council Policy brief PB 23-03 (June 26, 2023): the July 2020 Council staff estimates of $214 million for 2021 and $219 million for 2022

    Retrieved October 18, 2026. All rights reserved (Washington Research Council); figures cited, not redistributed. Linked only

    Reliability: Advocacy group. Has a stake in this finding. The Washington Research Council is a business-supported, nonpartisan fiscal research group that has criticized the tax's volatility. Its revenue figures come from the City's Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts and Council staff.

11. Seattle City Council Ordinance 126393 (July 2021), which codified the spending plan percentages (62% housing, 15% economic, 9% Equitable Development Initiative, 9% Green New Deal, up to 5% administration) in SMC 5.38.055

    Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record (City of Seattle). Public government document; linked, not redistributed

    Reliability: Government. Signed ordinance text from the City Clerk's legislative records.

12. City of Seattle, City Budget Office Summary and fiscal note for Council Bill 120912 (Ordinance 127155, November 2024)

    Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record (City of Seattle). Public government document; linked, not redistributed

    Reliability: Government. Speaks against its own interest. Written by the Mayor's budget office to justify loosening the spending plan; its admission that the plan was never followed runs against the City's interest in presenting the tax as dedicated.

13. Office of the Mayor, City of Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan's July 30, 2021 letter returning Council Bill 120118 (Ordinance 126393) unsigned

    Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record (City of Seattle). Public government document; linked, not redistributed

    Reliability: Party to the dispute. Durkan opposed restricting the tax's future uses; the letter states her reasons.

14. City of Seattle, City Budget Office 2027-2028 Proposed Budget Overview (Mayor Katie Wilson)

    Retrieved October 18, 2026. Public record (City of Seattle). Public government document; linked, not redistributed

    Reliability: Government. Speaks against its own interest. A progressive mayor's budget acknowledging that JumpStart is still needed to support the General Fund, against her stated goal of returning the money to its original purposes.

Limitations and reproducibility

Reproducible from public documents: Every value is copied from a City of Seattle budget book, ordinance, or the Washington Research Council brief named in the row's source_id, except the derived columns, which are simple arithmetic (62% of a revenue figure, a 2% annual growth path from the 2022 estimate, or a ratio) described in each field.

• General Fund transfers and housing amounts are budgeted (adopted or proposed) amounts, not year-end actual spending. Ordinance 126719 required part of the 2023 and 2024 transfers to be returned if the General Fund ended the year with a surplus, and 2025 legislation cut the 2025 transfer by $33.3 million; these adjustments are not reflected in the adopted figures.
• Revenue is total tax obligations for each tax year as reported by the City Budget Office in September 2026; earlier documents report slightly different totals for the same year (for example $297 million or $298 million for 2021 and $359 million or $362 million for 2024) because late payments keep arriving.
• The 2020 Council staff estimate was published only for 2021 ($214 million) and 2022 ($219 million, assuming 2% growth). Values for 2023-2026 extend that 2% path and are FactHub derivations, not City estimates.
• The 2024 budget assumption ($325.7 million) adds the $20 million the Council expected from its 2024 rate increase to the $305.7 million forecast used when the 2024 budget was adopted.
• Housing amounts for 2022 are not shown: the 2022 Adopted Budget reports $69.7 million of payroll tax for housing production and preservation but does not total the housing and services category the way later budgets do.
• Category definitions changed over time; for example the 2025 and later budgets include rental assistance and tenant legal aid in housing and services, and youth mental health spending was added outside the original categories in 2024.