Affordable housing has been a big problem on Vashon for years. The eye-popping 2018 property-tax bills that arrived in islanders’ mailboxes this month have only made it worse.

Taxes on most Vashon homes are up about 24 percent from last year. The two chief causes: A statewide property-tax increase the Legislature passed last summer to provide more money for schools, and a tax hike that island voters overwhelmingly approved last fall for Vashon Island Fire & Rescue.

For many, higher property taxes will require only minor sacrifices: Vacationing closer to home, for instance, or scaling back a remodel.

But for many islanders of modest means, the impact will be more consequential. The rising cost of housing already is forcing some to leave Vashon. Higher property taxes could accelerate that exodus.

Taxes will squeeze not only lower-income homeowners, but also renters. They don’t pay property taxes directly, but they may suffer even more.

Lower-income folks who own their homes at least may be able to take advantage of programs to reduce or defer some or all of their property taxes (details are available on the King County Assessor’s website).

Renters don’t have that option, and their landlords’ incomes generally are too high to qualify.

So many landlords may well decide to just pass the added cost on to tenants.

Here’s a case study: A three-bedroom rental house near my home. Last year the property tax bill for this mid-century residence was $5,416. This year it’s $6,666, a $1,250 jump.

The state’s new property tax for schools is responsible for $524 of that $1,250 increase. Vashon Island Fire & Rescue is getting $363 more than last year.

I don’t know what the owners of this rental house will do in response to their higher tax bill. I suspect a lot of landlords in the same situation would simply raise the rent $100 a month.

Increases like that could be the final straw for many Vashon renters, who generally earn less than homeowners. About 44 percent of island households with incomes below 80 percent of the area median are renters, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, compared with just 6 percent of more affluent households.

So what can be done to help our less-wealthy neighbors stay on Vashon?

First, the big picture: The state’s tax system needs a major overhaul, away from regressive taxes on property and sales, and toward a system based more on ability to pay. A Democratic proposal to replace some of the new property tax for schools with a tax on capital gains over $25,000 sounds like a good first step.

Both parties seem intent on using a big state budget surplus to roll back some of the property-tax bump, if not this year then next. But that fix would only be temporary. And cutting state funding for schools isn’t an option: The state Supreme Court, which prompted the tax increase by ruling the state was falling short of its constitutional obligation to fully fund basic education, won’t let that happen.

Closer to home, island voters last fall not only approved an 85 percent boost in property-tax revenue for Vashon Island Fire & Rescue for this year, but also authorized commissioners to increase property-tax collections up to an additional 6 percent each year for the next five years, far above the usual limit.

Islanders agreed by a wide margin in November that the fire district did indeed need more money. Now voters need to bird-dog the fire commission’s budget deliberations to ensure that future tax increases strike the right balance between the district’s needs and what residents — especially those with lower incomes — can afford to pay.

Here’s one more thing islanders can do to boost affordable housing: In December the King County Council approved a new community plan for Vashon that allows higher-density development than zoning otherwise allows in parts of Vashon town — provided all the units are intended for people making well less than the area median income.

The idea was to encourage construction of more affordable housing. But the proposal sparked significant opposition, and was watered down as the plan progressed. Now some of its strongest advocates say it’s unlikely to have any impact.

If they’re right, islanders should push the council to beef up the incentives. The county is required to assess their effectiveness annually.

The community plan’s vision statement says Vashon values “equity and diversity.” Both will be lost if soaring property taxes and other forces compel islanders of modest means to pack up and leave.

— Eric Pryne is a retired Seattle Times journalist and a member of the board of the Vashon-Maury Community Food Bank.