From the City of Seattle
Council unanimously approved legislation today creating a city income tax on high-income households to move Seattle toward a fairer, more progressive tax system. The legislation (Council Bill 119002) is intended to reduce regressive taxes such as property taxes, and finance priorities like addressing the homelessness crisis and offsetting federal budget cuts. The legislation will place a 2.25% tax rate on income over $250,000 year for individuals, or $500,000 for married couples filing jointly. The tax will not affect any income earned below those thresholds, and is estimated to generate $140 million per year.
Councilmember Lisa Herbold (District 1, West Seattle & South Park), the legislation’s co-sponsor, said, “Seattle is a progressive city, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at our regressive tax structure, and that includes the taxes paid by small businesses. When our poorest households are paying 16% of their income in state and local taxes while our highest earners are paying only 2.4%, we have a very clear problem. Today we are taking a step in the right direction, toward tax fairness.”
Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle), the legislation’s co-sponsor, said, “We live in a deeply unequal society. Throughout history, it has been mass movements of ordinary workers and young people, not the political representatives of big business, that have won change. Since I first ran for office, Socialist Alternative and I have organized for a $15 minimum wage, taxing the rich, and rent control. Our growing movement has now won $15 and taxing the rich. We can continue organizing to win not only rent control, but a world free of exploitation and oppression.” Continue reading →
