
Seattle council passes jumpstart tax on large employers - gavin_gee
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-city-council-passes-new-jumpstart-tax-on-high-salaries-paid-by-big-businesses
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gavin_gee
I'm not going to comment on the pro's and con's of this tax, but rather want
to discuss the implications. With COVID forcing many employers and employees
to prove out the model of remote working, isn't the net of this tax going to
accelerate employees to move from Seattle, leaving the city worse off without
the reinvestment of their salaries back into the local communities,
effectively creating a modern day Detroit with the "wealth donut" spreading
out and away from the center of the city?

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posguy
Mountlake Terrace (10.5% sales tax), Edmonds (10.4% sales tax), Lynnwood (head
tax[1]), Bellevue and other cities that are on the periphery of Seattle have
equal or higher taxes.

Seattle had a head tax up until 2008, if a minor increase in tax like this is
going to stop hiring of employees, then our zone based business commuter tax
scheme would have already been that death knell [2]

1 - [https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/publications/detail/city-
of...](https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/publications/detail/city-of-lynnwood-
increases-employee-head-tax-by-567)

2 -
[https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/transportation/metro/employ...](https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/transportation/metro/employer-
programs/business-orca.aspx)

~~~
pinewurst
(Edited to reflect the response's article link)

One can hardly compare a $93-$105 per employee head tax to a much higher
income tax.

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posguy
None of the cities I listed charge that little in head tax:
[https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-
businesses...](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-businesses-
strike-back-against-head-tax-launch-referendum/)

This measure is progressive taxation on earnings over $150k a year, if
anything its a boon for small and medium businesses in Seattle.

These large companies have driven up rent and gentrifed our neighborhoods
while paying less in taxes than small and medium businesses, meanwhile our tax
burden is still much lower than California.

~~~
pinewurst
My objection isn't the tax per se, but an utter lack of faith in the city
government to spent it wisely. From the anti-Amazon rants, it's about
punishing them and anyone else successful, with any resultant cash being a 2nd
order effect.

My partner spent many years analyzing area homeless programs and Seattle has
done so much poorer than King County. Giving them more money isn't going to
fix anything.

Sawant and friends are hardly going to improve matters with their profound
insights - Pol Pot is not a good model. I personally heard one of her speeches
to Boeing machinists where she literally yelled at them to take over their
factory and produce airliners for the people. (They'd probably do better than
the 737MAX...)

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8bitsrule
From the article: "The council also passed a high-level spending plan Monday.
The money from the new tax will be allocated to coronavirus economic relief
this year and preserving city services next year, the plan says. Starting in
2022, the revenue will fund affordable housing, community-led development,
local business assistance and Green New Deal investments."

About 800 businesses will be affected. The tax rates are far from exorbitant.
The businesses can certainly afford to pay them, and the need is self-evident.

Seattle has certainly done poorly for homeless people. Under the old guard it
has spent a lot to have police push them around the city, and done very little
else. Nothing visible except tent cities. Anything beats nothing.

~~~
gavin_gee
Despite trying to avoid this facet of the discussion in my original post, this
response is where the argument becomes irrational: "businesses can certainly
afford to pay them" is not a valid argument to justify a tax.

