‘We heard you’: Mayor, council move to head off ballot battle by proposing to repeal the head tax they passed

12:49 PM: Just in from the mayor’s office:

Seattle Mayor Jenny A. Durkan and members of the City Council including Council President Bruce A. Harrell, Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, Councilmember Lorena Gonzalez, Councilmember Lisa Herbold, Councilmember Rob Johnson, Councilmember Debora Juarez, and Councilmember Mike O’Brien released the following statement announcing the consideration of legislation to repeal a tax on large businesses to address the homelessness and housing crisis:

“We know that there are strong passions and genuine policy differences between neighbors, businesses, community leaders, and people across our City on how to best address our housing and homelessness crisis. This crisis has been years in the making and there are no easy solutions. The crisis is tied to a range of complex causes, including lack of affordable housing, unmet mental health and substance abuse issues, and systemic racial disparities in our foster care, criminal justice and educational systems.

“In recent months, we worked with a range of businesses, community groups, advocates, and working families to enact a bill that struck the right balance between meaningful progress on our affordability and homelessness crisis while protecting good, family-wage jobs. Over the last few weeks, these conversations and much public dialogue has continued. It is clear that the ordinance will lead to a prolonged, expensive political fight over the next five months that will do nothing to tackle our urgent housing and homelessness crisis. These challenges can only be addressed together as a city, and as importantly, as a state and a region.

“We heard you. This week, the City Council is moving forward with the consideration of legislation to repeal the current tax on large businesses to address the homelessness crisis.

“The City remains committed to building solutions that bring businesses, labor, philanthropy, neighborhoods and communities to the table. Now more than ever, we all must roll up our sleeves and tackle this crisis together. These shared solutions must include a continued focus on moving our most vulnerable from the streets, providing needed services and on building more housing as quickly as possible. The state and region must be full partners and contribute to the solutions, including working for progressive revenue sources. Seattle taxpayers cannot continue to shoulder the majority of costs, and impacts.”

The signature-gathering drive to put the head tax on the ballot had been widely reported to have already gathered more signatures than needed.

1:01 PM: Here’s the announcement of a special council meeting at noon tomorrow to consider the proposed repeal. Here’s the agenda; its accompanying “fiscal note” points out that “… King County Elections will bill the City some additional cost for having the repeal measure on the November 2018 ballot. If the City acts to repeal this legislation without the referendum, these additional election costs will be avoided.”

1:49 PM: Both of the two councilmembers who did not sign on to the repeal plan have commented via Twitter. Citywide Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda issued her statement here, saying she will not support the repeal. Councilmember Kshama Sawant calls the repeal move a “backroom betrayal.”

74 Replies to "'We heard you': Mayor, council move to head off ballot battle by proposing to repeal the head tax they passed"

  • Richard Curtis June 11, 2018 (1:09 pm)

    Really, the heard the people of Seattle?  It seems to me the heard the power of huge corporations paying thousands of people to gather signatures.  That is hardly representative of the people and even the signature mean nothing more than people accepted the idea that we should vote.  It tells us nothing about how most people who signed would vote.  Seems like mere cowardice in the face of a very simple organizing effort by massive corporations that simply do not want to pay their fair share.

      • HappyCamper June 11, 2018 (3:14 pm)

        Chris. You may know but that Mary’s place thing with Amazon has been in motion for years. They are also involved in opening more “Fare Start” restaurant/job/vocational training places. Also in motion for years before the head tax.

    • Rae June 11, 2018 (1:36 pm)

      Richard, you make the assumption that on this issue the interests of the people and of corporations contradict and that the those who lent their signatures to the “No Tax on Jobs” campaign were somehow coerced against their will. Those who are old enough to have opinions on taxes also know that life isn’t black and white. Sometimes people and companies want the same things: in this case, jobs. 

    • the truth June 11, 2018 (2:17 pm)

      The number of paid signature gatherers was tiny compared to the amazing citizens I met who were out collecting signatures.  I wouldn’t be shock if the “decline to sign” folks didn’t spend more money for their street team.  All but 2 of them that I spoke to said they were paid.  Money flows both ways.

      • Joel June 11, 2018 (2:50 pm)

        let’s not forget the tax payer money printing the signs/posters for Sawant’s crew…oh and her 500k plus legal defense paid by tax payer money.

        • Ms. Sparkles June 12, 2018 (12:52 pm)

          Joel… thank you for bringing this up.  I wrote to Herbold, Mosquada, Gonzales & Mayor Durkan about this expressing my concern that if this isn’t a violation of the ethics rules (which it currently isn’t) then I wanted them to introduce legislation to tighten up those rules.  NONE of them even bothered to respond.  I’m disgusted and dismayed that they don’t even think it needs to be addessed

      • s June 11, 2018 (3:36 pm)

        This.  It’s crazy to point fingers regarding paid signature gatherers.  Every friggin’ political team pays for those.  It sucks.  And it’s not true to think that all those who want a repeal don’t want a solution to the homeless problem.  We want solutions–but this solution stinks.  Sometimes you have to keep going back to the drawing board.  

    • Ron Swanson June 11, 2018 (2:28 pm)

      Richard,The polling on the issue is what told us how people would vote on the referendum.  It was 38% – 54% against the head tax – this was going to be repealed by the voters anyway.  Better to get it over with now.

    • Peter June 11, 2018 (2:47 pm)

      You’re willing to disregard the thousands of Seattle voters who signed the petitions to repeal the job tax. Despite you’re false clam that petition signers merely wanted to vote on the job tax, the fact is people signed the petitions because they want to repeal the job tax. I haven’t signed it because I’ve been out of town and not encountered any petition gatherers, but I was planning a trip down to their office to sign this week. Looks like I may be saved the trip.

    • Joel June 11, 2018 (2:48 pm)

      Richard – their fair share of what number?  it’s 70 million a year now and that is not doing much except for trashing the city…what’s the magic number? – 200 million…..300 million…..maybe it can be fixed with 30 million?….why not have a plan and use the money you have wisely before demanding/taking more money?  Maybe it’s time for some tough love – time to separate those wanting help from those wanting to camp in the woods, do drugs and trash the city.  Maybe it’s time to not allow drug use in tax payer funded homeless housing?

    • sw June 11, 2018 (2:59 pm)

      I am not a huge corporation and feel strongly that the head tax is/was a big mistake.  Shoving this through would not only have resulted in the referendum, but likely would have hurt other levy and funding efforts for years to come.  Until we see some results from all the money spent thus far, it will be difficult for any new taxes to pass.  

    • Patrick June 11, 2018 (4:25 pm)

       I have a suggestion for you Richard….pull your head out of the sand.   This is/was a horrible plan pushed through by only a small percentage of extremists Seattle voters, of which I guess you might be one of them.   I can promise you, I nor any other of the signature gatherers I talked with were paid a single penny.  100% grassroots movement by citizens of Seattle that are fed up with how this city is going.    The persons that were definitely paid were the ‘do not sign’ thugs that tried to shame and/or block a citizen from hearing and signing if they so chose to do so.   Truly disgraceful. These council members have not changed their tune simply because of a few thousand signatures, they are getting non stop pressure of how angry the citizens are so the councilmembers are merely scared for the next election.   Cowards they are. I now plead with the citizens to not forget what has been going on these past months, even years.  Your council members are concerned with only one thing…getting reelected at any cost.  Up to now, it has been the homeless machine(did I say S>H>A>R>E) and SEIU.  Now the electorate is screaming loud and clear, so they suddenly have a change of viewpoint.  Sickening, each one of them, including the mayor.   Every single one of them needs to go in 2019!   

      • M June 11, 2018 (11:37 pm)

        I totally agree with you!

    • TreeHouse June 11, 2018 (5:13 pm)

      Richard, I totally agree with you. The plan was no way perfect but it was something to help alleviate this major problem caused by our housing shortage. Rather than upzone more single family land in Seattle, the city council decide to create a tax. 

    • Mike June 11, 2018 (8:20 pm)

      Allowing voters to vote on this IS in the best interest of the people.  Anyone against that is purely in it for their own personal agenda.  This is why we live in a democracy, we the people get to choose.  Not career politicians.  The council and mayor don’t want this to get to a vote, they don’t want the people to be heard, they are freaking out that we are going to vote them out of office. They should be afraid, the people are pissed.

    • DH June 12, 2018 (7:22 am)

      Agreed!! We will never know how the actual vote would have turned out now. Polls aren’t elections. As much as it pains me the 2016 election taught us that at least. 

    • My two cents ... June 12, 2018 (8:10 am)

      @Richard – I went out of my way to find out were I could sign. I am all for attempting to solve issues that face our community. I am not for arbitrary punching bags as the targets for these attempts. It was a bad idea in my opinion, and merely was a game of kick the can down the street.

    • Seattlekarma June 12, 2018 (10:07 am)

      How do you define “there fair share”? Seriously, put out a math formula or methodology for how much people and a business should pay. I don’t have a “side” in this debate, I just want to see if someone has a thought rather than just screaming for a money grab. 

  • West Seattle Hipster June 11, 2018 (1:09 pm)

    Doesn’t matter, we still need new leadership in this city.  I am sure the council will look for other ways to tax the middle class as they try to solve the “homeless crisis”.

    • jb June 11, 2018 (5:08 pm)

      They will, it’s called MHA. It will pass for sure after all this.

  • Eric1 June 11, 2018 (1:17 pm)

    Lol.  Maybe if any of the Clowncil members took Math 101 they would have saved a lot of money three weeks ago… 18,000 or so signatures needed for ballot initiative….  there are 40,000 Amazon employees in Seattle.  I’m surprised it took three weeks to gather the signatures.

    • newnative June 11, 2018 (2:01 pm)

      If that were true, then they wouldn’t have needed to PAY signature gatherers, who are recorded as passing false information to get people to sign. 

      • Joel June 11, 2018 (4:32 pm)

        and Sawant doesn’t spew false info?  how about those 2 slander lawsuits against her…..with her defense being paid for by tax payer money…to the tune of about 500k…that would be buy over 300 tiny houses for the homeless.  

    • Peter June 11, 2018 (2:49 pm)

      It’s an insult to the voters of Seattle to claim we merely vote how our employers would.

    • Wsresident June 11, 2018 (3:20 pm)

      You assume all amazonians are against the head tax, which is incorrect. Humanities 101. 

      • Eric1 June 11, 2018 (4:31 pm)

        Lol.  Soft science classes often do not use sound reasoning.  Just because you find a rotten apple, it doesn’t mean the whole basket is bad.  OK.  a little Math 101..I will give you that:Number of Amazon wokers with home addresses in Seattle: N <100%Number of workers who want to sign petition:  N<100%Number of workers who listen to everything their employer says: N< <100%.But all you need is N > 50% who knows which side of their bread is buttered on and live in Seattle.   Add in Starbucks workers, Google, Nordstrom, etc..(Number of companies affected = 500) and 18,000 signatures isn’t a very high hurdle (N=36 per company).  Then count the people who work elsewhere and think that taxing jobs and giving the money away isn’t economically sound (N>>1) and three weeks to collect signatures seems pretty long.

        • Jethro Marx June 12, 2018 (6:26 am)

          What you have done here is relatively little math and a lot of speculation. It’s also not clear what, exactly, you are trying to say, despite your ‘N’s and liberal use of operators. If Amazon workers live in Seattle they are entitled to the same voting and initiative signing as anyone else. As to the application of reason in “soft sciences,” the only rhetorician I know would reason you under the table.

        • Mike June 12, 2018 (6:32 am)

          ERIC1, why are you against having this put to a vote?  Does it scare you that the majority of citizens who pay taxes here are going to vote against your personal beliefs?  That’s all these signatures do, put it to a vote.  Get over yourself, let the people of Seattle vote on it.  Stop the council from dictating how OUR money is used, how WE are taxed.  WE get to choose, not them.

  • Brian Hughes June 11, 2018 (1:25 pm)

    They did a terrible job at selling this tax as a viable solution. The only real message that cut through was “give us the money first…then trust us to figure out how best to spend it.”  The thing is this probably isn’t true. Lisa Herbold, several weeks after I contacted her, sent a form email that was a thousand words long with several links to supplemental information.  This was too much, and way too late. Explain the problem at a level of detail that makes sense. If that can be done, then explain the proposed solutions – along with which causes they control.  Once a clear understanding of causes and solutions is established and effectively communicated, then ask for the money.  But source the funds in a diverse and fair way.  A modest employment tax may be acceptable.  But what about taking a percentage of home sales?  I’m sure that wouldn’t be popular, but it would redirect a small portion of upside gains (part of what is making it so expensive to live here in the first place) to offset cost of housing at the margins. 

    • H June 11, 2018 (1:56 pm)

      I agree. Or we could just bring back an income tax.

    • Anonymous Coward June 11, 2018 (1:59 pm)

      “Explain the problem at a level of detail that makes sense. If that can be done…” Sorry.  The city council is too busy solving the homelessness problem they wish they had*  instead of the one they really have***income inequality and gentrification driving people from their formerly affordable homes.**people who just want to get high and don’t want to follow any rules and
      people with very serious mental health conditions who simply can’t
      function on their own.

  • Um, No! June 11, 2018 (1:56 pm)

    This is a complete CMPCB (Cover My Political Career’s Butt)
    move.   I’m in complete agreement with the repeal of
    the Head Tax but it’s comical how fast a politician will change their coarse when
    their political future is in jeopardy.     They’re in damage control mode now.

    • s June 11, 2018 (3:39 pm)

      No doubt!

  • Abcgirl June 11, 2018 (2:05 pm)

    Now we need to head off the mayor increasing proptery tax to pay for low income  students for collegepell grants, low interest loans, work study, is what most of us have had to dothe taxing has got to stop and assess what the money we are being so heavily taxed is resultingthey all need to b voted out, takes a people revolt to hear us, is not serving their community, starting with Lisa YOUR FIRED

  • Seattlite June 11, 2018 (2:05 pm)

     Seattle’s city council keeps proving everyday that they are not prepared and not skilled in managing a large city such as Seattle. Seattle’s major problems go unsolved year after year with no consequences. The same-thinking people keep getting voted into office and never ever solve Seattle’s problems but actually make them worse.

  • Jack sparra June 11, 2018 (2:18 pm)

    How about we outline the “solution” BEFORE we gather/take/throw money at this…Clownsil is right. I”m not a corporation, just a resident tired of the taxation. Money is not the answer folks…and I’m the biggest NON fan of Amazon….

    • Mongo June 11, 2018 (6:01 pm)

      What is the answer? Do tell!

  • Joel June 11, 2018 (2:52 pm)

    email for the city council – no use in emailing Heybold directly – you get a robot response –  council@seattle.gov

  • Semjeito June 11, 2018 (3:07 pm)

    The thin skinned politicians trying to save their seats Nov 2019. Local major media finally exposed what voters are being subjected to because of this City Council and those members are hoping that putting an end to it now will have voters forget all about their shenanigans come Nov 2019 when they have yet another tax increase up their sleeve (they want to renew and expand an education levy which expires). Citizens need to keep up the pressure and not forget to keep insisting on accountability for their current spending (nothing but huge cost overruns every project that has come along – street car, bicycle lanes, light rail, tunnel, etc, etc.). It should be a total outrage to every taxpayer that the annual budget of the City of Seattle is $2.5 billion MORE than Boston, a city of similar size and challenges (high housing cost, similar employment profile), and for that we get 50% less police officers and 20 times more unsheltered homeless people. Wherre is all the money going ??? Food for thought……. 

  • Lisa June 11, 2018 (3:24 pm)

    Was there an income tax in Washington State? 

  • coffeedude June 11, 2018 (3:48 pm)

    As a small business owner, I keep my business located outside the city limits for a reason…..

  • markinthedark June 11, 2018 (4:30 pm)

    Google “The Strange, Short Story of Washington State’s Income Tax”  There is an interesting KUOW  video of a short-lived voter approved income tax during the depression that was cut down by the State Supreme Court after the tax forms were mailed out.

  • D Del Rio June 11, 2018 (4:32 pm)

    They only heard us because they don’t want to get voted out. I will vote against ALL of them come next election!

    • David June 11, 2018 (6:04 pm)

      Unfortunately you only get the chance to vote out the council member of the district you live in next city council election cycle.

      • Brad June 11, 2018 (9:13 pm)

        And this why district voting is bad for Seattle.  The whole council needs to be voted out!  Why is Seattle  Council  the second highest paid council in the nation?  What have they accomplished for the hard working tax payer?   Watch the video of council at the townhall in Ballard. Pretty disgusting watching the council members not giving a damn about those who voiced their concerns about their incompetence!  Seattle is going to get worse with current city government.

    • My two cents ... June 12, 2018 (8:18 am)

      Well, keep in mind that Herbold (who is probably the rep for most people on this site) was one of the leading proponents for this cluster ….. adding to the list of press releases and third rate aspirational tropes as opposed to actually doing something for the community.Why does Herbold deserve another term?

  • Chris June 11, 2018 (5:10 pm)

    Our question in all this is some “repeal” of continuing rising of property taxes.   In an effort to provide housing for people, it would seem lightening up on the property taxes would help keep people from being pushed onto the streets or looking to use the low income housing, etc.

  • MJ June 11, 2018 (5:11 pm)

    The Council sees the writing on the wall.  Many residents are simply fed up with the taxing mentality of the Council and are tired of the failed approach dealing with the issue.  The carrot approach has not worked its time to try a stick!

  • Marty June 11, 2018 (5:25 pm)

    Time for an election time house cleaning! Current Council members have ignored those they represent and should pay the price…

  • Question Authority June 11, 2018 (5:40 pm)

    The “Progressive” City Council just had a reality check that wishes don’t always come true, in fact it’s more like don’t write checks you know will bounce.

  • Dale June 11, 2018 (6:06 pm)

    Would have been great if the council could have “heard us” when normal, pragmatic citizens were trying to get their attention before their idiotic first vote.  Another huge cost to taxpayers, wasting time, energy and money to get this stupid jobs tax repealed.

  • Millie June 11, 2018 (6:56 pm)

    Couldn’t agree more with some of the above-noted opinions.  City leaders have for too long ignored their constituents.  Citizens are angry with City government’s inability to complete major and/or small projects (seawall,  street maintenance, sidewalks,  affordable housing, and homeless crisis) on time and on budget.   New tax levies will be more difficult to pass.  Citizens want their representatives to be accountable to ALL and not just the  loudest special interests.  Be  more conscientious in handling tax dollars.   And, yes jobs, are important!   If there are no jobs, people will leave Seattle.   What will we do with all the million-dollar condos?  Oh, I forgot, the solution to the homeless crisis.   Lastly, they are afraid of being voted  out of office.    

  • HP Gal June 11, 2018 (6:58 pm)

    I visited the Tenement Museum last year in Manhattan’s lower east side.  They showed a video of business owners and the fear they used to have about crime and homelessness in the city before Rudy Guiliani became mayor.  Don’t get me wrong — his current employment curdles my wine — but the point was the real people with real businesses were tired of their city being trashed.  Rudy cleaned it up.  Makes me think about that year Mark Sidran ran for mayor.  Maybe we need somebody who is willing to flex some muscle to set some boundaries around using drugs and living on the streets illegally.  I’m not talking about clean and sober encampments, but the zombie junkies who have no interest in shelter.  Can Seattleites stomach some tough love?  Maybe we are getting there.   

  • chuck June 11, 2018 (8:47 pm)

    Ask yourself this question: if Amazon or another major player offered another city the chance to relocate (to Detroit, for example), do you think THEIR city council would be looking for a jobs tax to hit this company with? Only in a city with so many large employers and the resulting tax base could a city council be this comfortable with failure and incompetence. A plan to help the homeless, if it were really a priority, could have been achieved by working with the business community. But that would have involved solid goals, efficient use of the resources, and the one thing this city council cannot provide, accountability. But also accountability from homeless advocates and, yes, the homeless themselves. But this town’s politics don’t function that way. That’s why we pay so much for streets that are in poor repair, failed bicycle share programs and other examples of waste and upwardly spiraling taxes on everything from sodas to car tabs to high earners. Every problem is the same solution: go to the great ATM machine known as the taxpayers and take a little more. Finally, that ATM machine balked at more withdrawals. It’s the way it works for us, city council, and it works that way for you too.

    • JayDub June 11, 2018 (9:45 pm)

      YES!!

  • TiredofGovernmentGreed June 11, 2018 (9:23 pm)

    “We heard you” from our Mayor and City Council is insulting to the voters intelligence.  “We ignored you for our own elitist interests” is more accurate  and this group has learned nothing from the experience.  Watch as they continue on with higher property taxes, $80 “TBD” car tab fees, car congestion fees in the downtown corridor, and other taxes we haven’t even heard about yet.  And the poor city services and wasted voter money will go on.  We need a recall vote.

  • 1994 June 11, 2018 (10:06 pm)

    Seattlite is on to something, “Seattle’s city council keeps proving everyday that they are not prepared and not skilled in managing a large city such as Seattle. Seattle’s major problems go unsolved year after year with no consequences. “The Seattle Transportation Benefit District was voter approved  in 2014 for  a  .01 percent sales tax increase and a $60 car license tab fee to buy more Metro bus hours for Seattle is not even attainable per Metro. Metro does not have space at its maintenance bases to operate all the bus service Seattle is requesting, and it can’t hire bus drivers fast enough. $50 million in extra taxes for increased bus services that can’t be utilized as presented to voters —  perhaps the research done by the city council members staff  wasn’t comprehensive enough?  The city should just reduce or refund these taxes. Instead the city is reallocating the taxes for free Orca cards for high school students and spending $10 million a year on capital improvements to the bus system – things like bus only lanes… voter’s approved the STBD for reasons we were presented in 2014 but now the city council is changing how the funds are to be spent….read about this in The Seattle Times 6/6 Traffic Lab. 

  • M June 12, 2018 (12:41 am)

    Herbold please stop wasting taxpayer money and time with these hairbrained and sloppy proposals. Please resign so we don’t have to waste additional time voting you out. So sick of this incompetence.

  • Mark Schletty June 12, 2018 (7:47 am)

    Don’t think “We heard you” means they recognize that their thinking was wrongheaded. It only means they realized that having this measure on the November general election ballot would both get it rejected and get them voted out of office. The expected heavy anti-headtax voter turn out would also vote anti-incumbent. The repeal is pure self-defense, not acknowledgment that they were wrong. 

    • WSB June 12, 2018 (8:15 am)

      No City Council positions are on this year’s ballots. The 7 district positions are up next year.

      • Mark Schletty June 12, 2018 (8:30 am)

        Oops. Wishful thinking overriding real voting opportunity timing. Sorry. But self-defense argument still stands, just not for this years balloting.

    • VoteThemOut June 12, 2018 (8:21 am)

      This is exactly why they are going to repeal this measure. If they let it go to a vote they know for a fact it would mobilize the vote against them and they don’t want that. This is pure self preservation. They have not heard anything different from their constituents since they vote the tax in. If they are truly hearing something different then that should be a huge concern for every Seattle voter that the council is living in an echo chamber and that means they are not representing the average Seattle voter on a daily basis. I really hope we wake up come time to vote and get some moderate Democrats and a couple of Republicans on the council for some checks and balances. 

      • Scott June 12, 2018 (11:40 am)

        Lets still put it to a vote. 

  • My two cents ... June 12, 2018 (8:07 am)

    Once again the City Council has shown their willingness to spend dollars and waste time and have added to their collection of greatest hits (such as):Pronto:  Committed dollars to a program which they then had to buy out. Cost? Over $1 million dollars.Income Tax: Passed legislation without a clear legal precedent. Cost? Waste of time chasing down something that wasn’t vetted plus how much in legal fees to defend?Head Tax: Tried to ram something down with no track record of being able to solve (or attempt) the issue. Cost? Angered citizens that don’t trust their representatives, angered business that is bringing in tax dollars, employing people within the city limits.

  • Helpful June 12, 2018 (10:05 am)

    For a truly hilarious read- go to Sawant’s tweet as linked above in the WSB update. The response is scathing and endless, and none of it in support of Kashama Sawant’s histrionics:URGENT ACTION ALERT on Amazon Tax to build affordable housing: @SeattleCouncil will repeal the tax on big biz at noon tomorrow! This is a capitulation to bullying by Amazon & other big biz. This backroom betrayal was planned over weekend w/o notifying movement (incl. my office).

  • whataboutthebears June 12, 2018 (10:14 am)

    Fine, but can we still hold Bezos responsible for more than a donation of peanuts.

    • My two cents ... June 12, 2018 (3:10 pm)

      @WAHTABOUTTHEBEARS:Blame the shareholders of Amazon, not Bezos – they are the ones ultimately driving the direction of a company.This “blame game”, or creating a punching bag of Corporation X  is shortsighted and frankly appears to be ignorant with respect to how businesses operate and how they related to a community.What about the majority of small businesses that DON’T make it? Bezos/Amazon made it – but how many more have failed? How about a flashback to when Microsoft went through their stratospheric growth phase? Why isn’t attention being focused on why problems were a lesser extent than today? 

  • MJ June 12, 2018 (1:29 pm)

    I would prefer that the voters get a chance to vote to repeal the head tax themselves!  The Council repeal is self serving.

  • James June 12, 2018 (1:37 pm)

    I think that the Mayor and Council members responded to voters like me. This was the first time that I have emailed them directly to voice my opposition on anything. And I was at pains to point out that I am a liberal who believes in strong public services but that driving businesses from the city would only weaken the City’s ability to provide such services.I have a theory that Seattle might be at a temporary tipping point. The recent large property tax increase (caused by the State Supreme Court deciding that education must be funded properly) combined with the perception by many that city officials are both financially irresponsible, and incompetent re: the execution of major projects may be leading to a taxpayers’ revolt. November will certainly test this theory as I believe the Mayor is planning a massive education levy.

  • BubbaFide June 12, 2018 (2:58 pm)

    This just in:   Seattle business launch program to help reduce homelessness.   Apparently, Seattle businesses provide something called, “jobs.” 

  • David June 22, 2018 (9:23 pm)

    So is this head tax revolt a one off or will we do the same when they try to pass a per mile use tax?  Or is the seattle voter only going to draw the red line at taxes directly effecting amazon?

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