I am in a third tier law school, top 25% of my class, I have 7 A's and 1 B in my tax law classes. Any ideas?

Anyone?

I would say pretty high if you don't have any serious malfunction. I think UW has a pretty high acceptance rate. If you're really worried about getting in, I would suggest doing an externship with an IRS office/tax clinic if possible. Also, 1-2 years of practice and a clear idea of what you want will get you in easy.

Here's the unsolicited advice portion. I would STRONGLY recommend that you try to find a job in the area you think you might want to practice. Before you go throw down another $25K for more letters, you should know why you want the degree and what you can do with it. That is, if you actually want to practice tax law.

If you're just looking to get an LLM in an effort to cleanse the taint of a 3rd tier law school in the hopes it will make you more attractive to employers, then UW probably isn't the program for you. While it's respected in Seattle, the job market here is VERY tight and some of the only jobs available are with the Big 4 accounting firms. Going to NYU or Georgetown will make you a more attractive job candidate everywhere, even Seattle (but they're also twice the tuition plus living expenses). Also, when the job market gets tough, you can always look to the government. IRS has lawyer jobs if you're willing to go where they need you for a few years. IRS prefers to hire from NYU, Georgetown, or Florida. I don't know how many they've hired from UW.

Also, you might want to check out this article.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/03/news/economy/legal_industry/?postversion=2008120305

Basically, if you think an LLM will get you a job in this market, think again.

Why restrict your options to UW? Go ahead and apply to the top three as well and use UW as your safety school.