Seattle's Crusade Against "The Rich": $47 million Head Tax is repealed a month after it was signed

Not much point spending time going at it with you anymore, nothing of value would be gained exchanging anything with you.
If that was actually your opinion you wouldn't have responded in the first place. You wanted to get a cheap comeback in, just admit it. People like you can't even be honest with yourself. This is what insecurity does. Turns people into snakes.
 
Socialist Alternative party's rally, march to Amazon in Seattle
By: KIRO 7 News Staff | May 12, 2018



A rally and subsequent march to Amazon headquarters in South Lake Union was held Saturday.

The Seattle City Council’s Finance and Neighborhoods Committee Friday voted down an amendment to a proposed head tax that would have slashed the amount businesses would have paid in half, and approved the original bill that would tax big businesses $500 per employee, per year.

The original bill was approved 5-4, which does not make it veto-proof from the mayor. Council members Gonzalez, Herbold, Mosqueda, O’Brien and Sawant voted for the bill.

In the wake of the vote, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan released the following statement indicating that she may not sign the head tax into law if it passed the council next week:

I spent the morning with hundreds of women attending a career fair for women in the building trades. These women are dynamic and powerful and from some of our most disadvantaged communities. The apprenticeship programs and jobs they want provide strong wages, benefits, and careers. Working together, we must do everything we can to support and create good family wage jobs – it’s why I support and would sign the alternative proposal offered today by Council President Harrell and supported by three other Councilmembers. Unfortunately, the bill that passed out of committee hurts workers by stopping these good jobs, so I cannot support it.

In recent weeks, I’ve heard from thousands of constituents, hundreds of businesses of all sizes, dozens of unions, and advocates. Seattle wants us to forge common ground on a proposal that builds more affordable housing and brings people off the streets and into safer spaces while continuing to support our small businesses, jobs, and economy. I will continue to work with Council and remain hopeful that Council will pass a bill that I can sign.​

KIRO Radio’s Mike Lewis reports Council President Bruce Harrell’s amendment to cut the head tax in half — supported by Mayor Durkan — failed with four votes.

The council is attempting to reach a deal on the proposed employee head tax that seeks to raise $75 million annually to combat the city’s growing issue with homelessness. A full council vote could come early next week.

Sawant, who is strongly in favor of the original bill, warns “the fight isn’t over.” Along with having to get it through full council, Sawant says Durkan has “promised” to veto the bill. Minutes after the bill passed in committee, Sawant urged the council members who approved it to “stand strong and call Durkan’s bluff.”

If the council can’t find an alternative solution, Lewis reports a veto from Mayor Durkan is possible.

The existing legislation would charge companies earning a gross revenue higher than $20 million annually approximately $500 per employee per year. For a company such as Amazon, this would mean an additional $20 million in city taxes. In all, about 480 firms likely would be subject to the tax. The money is targeted for emergency services, temporary shelters and low-income housing.

The proposal set off an immense reaction across the city with homeless advocates lauding it as part of the antidote to fix a problem they say was created, in part, by those same companies and the high-wage jobs that contributed to a loss of affordable housing.

Business leaders, including a group of 130 tech companies, have called it unfair and a potential job-killer. They have argued that the city shouldn’t penalize success and it should spend the money it has more wisely and try to first solve the problem through favorable zoning that would allow the building of thousands of additional housing units.

The issue garnered national attention when Amazon halted construction of a 40-story skyscraper until the city council decides the issue.

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/rally-march-to-amazon-planned-for-saturday/747956340
 
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Starbucks exec. says Seattle leaders looking for someone to blame
By: MYNorthwest.com | May 11, 2018

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SEATTLE, Wash. - There are a large number of global businesses in Seattle which created the city’s current economic environment. Activists are calling on them to step up and help solve the current homeless and affordability problems the city faces by paying a head tax.

But those businesses are saying not so fast.

John Kelly, senior vice president of Global Public Affairs and Social Impact at Starbucks, says the city has spent millions on the homelessness issue only to see the problems get worse.

“I would look for something else to blame as well,” he told Seattle’s Morning News.

Kelly says city leadership has ignored advice from its own experts.

In 2016, a consultant for the city said the council needs to do less talking and take more action.

A year later, the same consultant said the city did too little, too late.

Many in the business community say they want to see actual plans before the city taxes them further to raise revenue.

The Seattle City Council could approve a head tax on the city’s largest businesses as soon as Monday.

The legislation facing opposition from businesses would charge those earning a gross revenue of more than $20 million about $500 per employee, per year. An amendment supported by Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan would reduce the amount charged per employee to $250 a year. That has received support from worker unions and businesses, including Amazon.

Meanwhile, labor rights group Working Washington has called for the prosecution of Amazon for how it has handled the company’s threat to pause construction during the head tax debates. Sage Wilson, spokesperson for Working Washington, says Amazon is “just mad about being told no.”

“They don’t want to be told no because they think this is a company town and they think they’re in charge,” he said.

Wilson says there is a “curious pattern” of corporations and the wealthiest people in the region finding reasons not to support new investments in income inequality and homelessness.

“Why is it we have so many wealthy people right here where we have a housing crisis?” he asked.

The proposed lawsuit by Working Washington was called “ludicrous” by former state Attorney General Rob McKenna.

“This is so irresponsible,” said McKenna. “I haven’t seen anything like it since Councilmember [Kshama] Sawant accused two police officers involved in a shooting of murder.”

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/st...eaders-looking-for-someone-to-blame/747766527
 
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This attempted tax increase will not have the desired effect.

The effect it will have is to drive wealthy people away from Seattle, and prevent other wealthy people from moving there.

People on the left have a real failure in their thinking, in that they don't think people will change their behavior based upon the laws that they impose.

If a thief comes to your house in the middle of the night, and steals your car out of the driveway without warning, you had no chance to modify your behavior around a surprise attack. However, if the car thief tells you in advance "I'm going to rob your car, and I'm going to do it on Tuesday at 4:00 a.m.", then you're going to modify your behavior around this warning. You might lock your car in the garage, you might get an extra alarm system, you're likely to take some measure to prevent this theft from occurring.

The rich in Seattle will act, and react no differently then the potental victim of car theft in my example.

It's an axiomatic truth that's been true since the time of the Roman Empire, to this very moment:

The higher a Government raises taxes, the less tax revenue they will actually bring in.

Thankfully this measure will be struck down in the courts. It's a clear violation of equal protection under the law.
 
Why would the rich move over a 2.25% tax that would be used to lower their federal taxable income?

Nebraska's state income tax started at only 2%. Now it's climbed up to 6.84%. This is in a state resistant to taxation. I can only imagine how far up a "tax the rich" tax will hike up after passage.
 
Seattle passes smaller ‘head tax’ on big companies
by Monica Nickelsburg on May 14, 2018 at 4:10 pm

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The Seattle City Council unanimously passed a smaller version of the controversial “head tax” on Amazon and other top-grossing businesses that has sent shockwaves through the tech industry and municipal government over the past few weeks.

At an impassioned meeting Monday afternoon, the Council approved an amendment establishing the tax of $275 per employee per year, from $500 previously, on companies with more than $20 million in annual revenue in the city. The amendment is the result of a compromise reached between Mayor Jenny Durkan and several sponsors of the originally proposed tax over the weekend. Under the amendment, the tax expires after five years with the option to renew it. Kshama Sawant was the only councilmember to vote against the amendment, but voted in support of the final tax after the smaller version was approved by her colleagues.

The tax that passed Monday will raise close to $50 million annually to fight the homelessness crisis. The Council’s spending plan allocates 60-70 percent for affordable housing and the remaining funds will go toward shelters and other homeless services

Last week, Amazon said it would resume paused construction on one of its office towers if the Council approved a $250 per employee tax. That original compromise was voted down Friday.

“We appreciate Mayor Durkan’s efforts to significantly modify the Council’s ill-conceived proposal to tax jobs in Seattle,” said Downtown Seattle Association CEO Jon Scholes in a statement, after Durkan introduced her original compromise. “A tax on jobs at any level is bad economic policy and will negatively impact Seattle’s economy and city tax revenues.”

Whether Amazon will accept the new $275 per-employee cost remains to be seen. The company did not comment on the new compromise when GeekWire asked ahead of Monday’s meeting. Under the amended tax, Amazon will be on the hook for about $11 million annually, rather than the $20 million that the original proposal would have levied.

The head tax has ignited something of an existential debate for Seattle over its monumental growth. With more than 40,000 employees and counting, Amazon is at the center of the conversation and the explicit target of Sawant, who has called the proposal “Tax Amazon Legislation.”

“Big businesses like Amazon have many tactics to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, and it has required true dedication and sacrifice from hundreds of us to bring us to this point. … If we had a stronger movement, that could have changed the balance of power between us and the goliaths even more, we could have won more,” Sawant said Monday. “If we had a weaker movement, we could have won less or even nothing.”

Two weeks ago, Amazon responded in kind, threatening to slow its growth in Seattle pending the City Council’s vote on the tax. The e-commerce giant paused construction on one of its office towers and said it is reconsidering occupying another. The combined projects would house 7,000 new employees. Amazon’s plans in Seattle after today’s vote are not clear.

“When we start talking about changing that system that benefits some to make it more fair, there’s a lot of resistance,” Councilmember Mike O’Brien said during Monday’s meeting. “We have a lot more work to do.”

The city’s homeless population is growing, behind only New York and Los Angeles. With it, frustration over the City Council’s response to the homeless crisis grows. A recent audit of King County’s response to the crisis gives weight to that view. It found that a lack of coordination between Seattle, surrounding cities, and the county creates inefficiency in the region’s homeless response.

“I think we have to convince the public that we’re using [funds] wisely and strategically, and I think we’ve failed in that regard as a city,” said Council President Bruce Harrell during Monday’s meeting.

But the city says homelessness is a moving target. Although more than 12,000 affordable units have been built, far more are necessary to house the growing population of people displaced by rising housing costs, which are bid up by an influx of well-paid tech workers and exacerbated by widespread single-family zoning. A new report concluded that it would require about $400 million a year, conservatively, to solve the homelessness crisis in King County.

Mayor Jenny Durkan said that Seattle currently spends about $70 million in annual direct investments to programs that fight homelessness in her first State of the City address. Other estimates put that number at about $54 million in 2017.

Amazon says it has contributed a cumulative total of $40 million to Seattle’s affordable housing fund through fees associated with its real estate development in the city. Separately, the company has committed more than $40 million to two groups: the Mary’s Place shelters for homeless families, including space in company buildings; and the FareStart non-profit organization for homeless and disadvantaged men, women, and kids, including space and equipment for FareStart restaurants.

https://www.geekwire.com/2018/seatt...big-companies-will-compromise-appease-amazon/
 
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Look at all that “give us free shit” mentality.
 
Apparent Seattle just passed the additional tax
A compromise was made apparently. Instead of 500, its 275

Although it pains me to say it, welcome to Texa, Amazon



The newly passed ordinance, which takes effect in January 2019, will impose a "head tax" on the city's highest grossing businesses. The tax will amount to $275 a year per full-time employee in Seattle. It would raise an estimated $44.7 million a year and expire after five years,.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattl...-for-scaled-down-head-tax-on-large-employers/
 
Look at all that “give us free shit” mentality.

Actually, it's the "let's vote to make other people pay for it" mentality, à la the Seattle Socialist way.

These people talk a big game about the virtue of (mandatory) givings to the community, but no one is push for a tax across the board that would take money out of THEIR pockets too, it's always the big bad employers and the successful residents who worked hard for their healthy bank balances who kept being scapegoated.

Looks like Durkan managed to work out a deal with Amazon over the weekend before the vote though, so both sides can claims a win to their shareholders/constituents:

 
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$275/year is next to nothing. As in the article it's 26c an hour. Cry me a river big business earning > $20 million a year.

Lol the next Detroit incoming

The hysteria is real.
 
It's funny seeing lower class people do the bidding of these extremely wealthy fucks as if they can relate to them or will ever be on the level to where this tax hurts them too. They're actually voting against their own interests- it's incredible how the elite class manages to manipulate lower classes into eating their own.
 
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