Worried a proposed new statewide payroll tax could undermine Seattle’s own “progressive revenue” effort to tax big business, Kshama Sawant is calling on legislators in Olympia to not block the “Amazon tax.”
“Washington State Democrats have presided over decades of inexcusable underfunding of education, housing, healthcare, jobs, and services. Now working people face compounding crises in the pandemic and recession. We desperately need statewide taxes on big business,” Sawant said in a press release Monday. “That includes taxing capital gains, a wealth tax on billionaires, and taxing corporate payroll, as the Amazon Tax does. “Shamefully, Democrats in Olympia have said they are looking at using statewide legislation to undermine Seattle’s Amazon Tax and shield the most profitable corporations and the wealthiest from taxes at a time when ordinary people are experiencing unprecedented suffering, on top of shouldering regressive taxes.. ”
A resolution from Sawant calls on “the Democrats in the State Legislature, who control both the state House and Senate, and occupy the Office of the Governor,” to enact “progressive taxation on big business and billionaires without undermining Seattle’s new Amazon Tax in the process.”
The resolution would come as the Washington legislators are also eyeing a payroll tax to help pay for state programs — a situation that would mean either somehow cutting Seattle out of the statewide tax or, more likely, ending the city’s local tax.
Beginning January 1st, Seattle companies with payrolls $7 million and up are taxed on pay to employees making more than $150,000 per year. The tax rate ranges from 0.7% to 2.4% with tiers for various payroll and salary amounts. It is expected to generate more than $200 million a year for for a city facing the COVID-19 crisis and in desperate need of revenue for expansion of housing, business assistance, and community spending.
Sawant’s proposed resolution, below, has not yet been considered for adoption by the council.
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Expected to generate over $200 million? Expected by who? No one involved in making those estimates actually believes them. And it’s farcical to declare that this city is in “desperate need of revenue.” People who know how to count can look at the numbers and see we’ve been taking in record high revenues which have grown substantially faster than our population. Our underfunded programs are 100% due to waste and incompetence, not due to a lack of revenue.
Virtue signaling is very expensive!
Seattle is ran entirely by activist who’s intentions are to keep the socialist experiment moving forward irrespective of what options people really have to control their own destinies. If you can’t make anywhere else, Seattle has plans for you to make it here by demanding those who already made it pay your way. If you can’t afford to live anywhere else in the country, Seattle will ensure you can live here in the beautiful North West. Because as a human you have the right to live anywhere you want whether you can afford it or not. That pent house looks nice by the way. I demand….
Sorry the MyNorthwest comment section closed, but I’m glad you found a place to continue to spout delusional opinions about a city you don’t live in!
How are things in Twisp these days?
Welp, we do have the right to free travel. This is where I from seed grew my roots. By your logic if you “can’t afford ” our beautiful northwest you have no right to live here. I’m wondering if you too grew from this beautiful place too? Or are you another NIMBY tech transplant? I say if you wanna live here, take care of it’s natural beauty and be kind to others. Other than that welcome. Glad to have ya’, chip in what you have and do your fair share. I’m sad to see the false idea of progress allowing support to the spread of gentrification throughout the Puget sound region.
I think her switch is stuck at “Desperate need for revenue.”
Sawant has been a disaster for Seattle. The logical outcome of her go it alone approach is to export jobs to surrounding cities and concentrate social services and addicts in Seattle.
That’s not true at all. Sawant is fighting for the Working Class in Seattle, but the Corporate Democrats are the fighting against her. Her opposition in 2019 spent $1.5 Million. She is fighting Big Money in politics. She is fighting to make sure Amazon pays their fair share of taxes. The Corporate Democrats even want to recall her from her Democratically Elected City Council seat, just for organizing a portest outside the Crooked Mayor’s house.
I am not a “corporate Democrat,” but I am a “regular citizen” (and a Democrat) who is fed up with Sawant’s antics and her constant attention-seeking, and her refusal to actually represent the people who live in District 3. There are many thousands like me, and we are going to vote to recall Sawant.
I don’t care for Sawant, but I love watching all the anti-Sawant people make bold claims, like how she would be defeated in a landslide her last two elections. Now they are CERTAIN that she’ll be recalled.
Better stock up on popcorn.
“Corporate democrats ”
A rose by any other name would be a republican.
We need fundamental changes that are helping the majority of the people and I’m happy for anything that begins to make it right. NIMBY behavior is no longer welcome in the majorities back yard :) finally.
There’s a typo on page 1 of the resolution: “sock (sic) market investments.”
I guess our City Council comrades don’t believe in spellcheckers?
Hey man, the northwest is cold. Who says a sock market doesn’t exist?
It’s not expensive for businesses to just stop hiring and move to other cities in Washington, tax businesses enough it even makes sense for them to leave the state. Look at Amazon for example – they are moving as much as they can to Bellevue. Once SCC becomes addicted to this increased but likely temporary tax revenue what are they going to do once all the high paying jobs are driven out of the city? The pandemic has already pushed more people to the suburbs and they don’t want to come back to downtown – Sawant is only accelerating the decline. The state needs preemption laws on several areas, novel taxation is one of them, so SCC can’t keep pretending they are empowered to treat the city like their own personal utopia laboratory.
The only people I see creating a personal utopia laboratory in Seattle are tech companies and developers. I welcome this tax and hope it impacts the wealth disparity that has been unchecked for over a decade. Your argument is driven purely by greed.
It’s driven by not wanting to commute to the east side along with zero trust of SCC to effectively spend tax dollars.
Sawant is shameful. Her district has nose dived since she’s been around. She uses fear, ignorance & virtue signaling to keep her grip on her consistents. Mini radical dictator, disgusting.
Socialists can only take what is not theirs.
Decades of poor decisions and bad management cannot be “fixed” with a tax that will promptly be wasted on the latest fad utopia idea.
Seattle “leadership” needs a good clear education about the bolshevik revolution and its effects on the Germanic people that made the western portion of Russia a successful area while they were there.