You know the old saying, “When you’re in a hole, stop digging”? I’m thinking that the idiots on the Seattle City Council have never heard that adage.

Because not only did these fools pass the controversial head tax last week, they’ve now decided to . . . wait for it. . . . raise property taxes! What a concept! Yeah, that’ll totally work!

Let’s review how Seattle first screwed over the middle class last week. John Stossel explains it like this:

And now the City Council wants to raise taxes on both homes and businesses, starting in November.

Because it’s for free preschool! And not only that, Mayor Jenny Durkan also wants to send high school graduates to community college — for free!

But wait! It’s not a tax, says one city council member. It’s an enhancement!

Is that anything like male enhancement — you know, so they can screw Seattle residents — let’s say — more vigorously?

 So who does this? Quick answer: leftist government.

Here’s how Ben Shapiro puts it:

This is how Leftist governance destroys thriving major cities. First, you create building codes. That raises rents. Then you increase minimum wage to compensate. That drives out small businesses. Then you tax the big businesses to compensate. So they leave. Then you tax homeowners to compensate. So they leave.

But some residents of the Emerald City are not about to grab the ankles for the Seattle City Council.

Seattle attorney Matt Dubin is now running for state office as a result of taxes being shoved down middle class throats. “It’s making it impossible for the middle class to live in Seattle. If we keep going down this road nobody will be able to live in Seattle except for the very rich and the homeless.”

Plus, there’s now a No Seattle Head Tax page at Facebook promoting a tax repeal. One major supporter is Saul Spady, grandson of the founder of the Dick’s Drive-In chain, who’s pushing a petition to hold a referendum on the tax issue. “We as a community need to stand up … This isn’t liberal or conservative, this isn’t progressive versus Republicans, this is a Seattle issue,” he said.

But you know what the dirty little secret is? It appears that the Seattle City Council based its big tax push on a report which doesn’t exist. Yes, friends, you read that correctly. Seattle activist Roger Valdez, writing in Forbes, says that news outlets who covered the City Council were working off a summary of a report, not an actual study. Here’s what Valdez found:

There never was a report. City leaders were citing a report that never existed, reported as fact by reporters that never verified its existence, to justify a tax on jobs.

So let me get this straight: a liberal city council uses a nonexistent report to justify more taxes and big spending on their pet causes.

Let me show you my shocked face.

Meanwhile, the folks in Tacoma are laughing their tails off at their big neighbor to the north. Furthermore, they’re prepared to reward employers with a $275 tax credit per job — the same amount of money Seattle plans to slam on its top businesses. As the CEO of the Tacoma-Pierce County Economic Development Board said, “We felt it was important to make sure that we distinguished ourselves in the Puget Sound marketplace as a part of the region that actually rewards companies for creating jobs.” (Boldface mine.)

Tacoma has been living in the shadow of Seattle for over 100 years, ever since the 1898 Klondike gold rush brought on Seattle’s boom. But if the Seattle City Council continues to be stuck on stupid, Tacoma may find itself welcoming new businesses fleeing Seattle. The City Council will have no one but themselves to blame. And Happy Days will be here again for Tacoma.