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View Poll Results: do you support the head tax proposal?
yes 9 8.41%
no 93 86.92%
undecided 5 4.67%
Voters: 107. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 05-09-2018, 09:42 PM
 
Location: Old Bellevue, WA
18,782 posts, read 17,316,678 times
Reputation: 7990

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https://www.seattletimes.com/busines...tax-would-work


The proposal is to tax all companies with $20 million revenue per year or more. The city says there are currently 585 such companies in Seattle. They would be taxed $0.26 per employee-hour. An estimated $75 million/yr would be raised, with $20 million of that coming from Amazon.


It's drawing lots of opposition from both business and labor (they see it as a tax on jobs). However, last I have seen, Sawant has the support of five of nine council members, so she has the votes. As far as I've heard, the mayor still won't say whether she'll support it.


Standard economic analysis is that a tax like this (essentially a payroll tax) ultimately comes out of the employees' pockets, not the employer. This is the assumption the CBO adopts for all studies of such taxes. It's hard to tell whether the tax would be overall regressive or progressive. It depends on the income levels at the 585 companies. If they are higher than average, the tax could be progressive. If not, then not.


What is your opinion?
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Old 05-09-2018, 10:18 PM
 
Location: North Seattle
609 posts, read 298,295 times
Reputation: 1001
No thanks. Taxes should be predictable and simple. I can understand the city wanting to raise a couple bucks, but there's no need to further complicate the tax code, especially in such a backwards and regressive way.
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Old 05-09-2018, 10:25 PM
 
Location: Seattle
8,164 posts, read 8,248,333 times
Reputation: 5978
No! I'm a "progressive" and I am firmly against this. The city is wasting a lot of money, I'm convinced of that. There are homeless programs in cities around the country that are working a whole lot better than ours for a lot less money. City government needs to get humble, study those and learn from them.
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Old 05-09-2018, 10:49 PM
 
Location: Metro Seattle Area - Born and Raised
4,849 posts, read 2,017,798 times
Reputation: 8553
Quote:
Originally Posted by homesinseattle View Post
No! I'm a "progressive" and I am firmly against this. The city is wasting a lot of money, I'm convinced of that. There are homeless programs in cities around the country that are working a whole lot better than ours for a lot less money. City government needs to get humble, study those and learn from them.
Well said Homesinseattle.

I agree 100% that the City of Seattle should stop wasting money... which they won't. The ideal of studying other plans/programs from other cities that have a better understanding of the homeless problem would be a great start. After doing so, they will or at least hopefully that they will realize that they do already have enough funds from local taxes, as well as grants for the State and the Federal Government to the various programs.

I think that the Seattle city counsel needs to be very careful and not overplay their hands by thinking that they're in a position of strength. Will Amazon move? I don't think so, BUT!! "What if" they decide that they might need to cut off an arm so that the rest of the body can survive? Principle can be a powerful thing... Especially if your business has the capital to do it.

Yes, if Amazon should leave, numerous tech companies will gladly step in, but I'm sure that they will not set up shop inside Seattle. They would most likely move to areas to the north, east and south... IMHO.
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Old 05-10-2018, 12:57 AM
 
905 posts, read 1,098,269 times
Reputation: 1186
I'm rather "left" on most issues, but am 100% against the head tax.

I don't think it's fair to tax good job opportunities out of town and discourage companies from hiring, especially when skyrocketing property values and other new taxes have already given the city tons of new money to work with. Sure, Amazon (and let's just get this out of the way - they're the biggest target of the tax) could be a better corporate citizen when it comes to philanthropy/giving back to the community, and they could easily afford the share of tax they would have to pay if it passed, but what about the many smaller businesses that would struggle? (since the tax is based on gross revenue instead of net income). I'd hate to see more unique Seattle businesses lost as a result of this tax.

Also, the city has been pretty rampant with tax/spending increases in recent years already, and doesn't have enough to show for it - and it's pretty clear that the citizens of Seattle are getting fed up with misuse of tax money/tax increases, judging by how heated public meetings are getting (look at what happened last week at the city council meeting about this tax in Ballard!). Some better fiscal responsibility is desperately needed here.
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Old 05-10-2018, 05:58 AM
 
672 posts, read 440,452 times
Reputation: 1484
Yes, if the city will tax it's own employees.
I'm sure City Light will fall into the taxable category.
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Old 05-10-2018, 07:01 AM
 
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,308 posts, read 80,617,609 times
Reputation: 57311
Quote:
Originally Posted by homelessinseattle View Post
Yes, if the city will tax it's own employees.
I'm sure City Light will fall into the taxable category.
That will never happen. They (and Seattle Public Utilities) will be well above the minimum for revenue, but the law will most certainly exempt public agencies and/or non-profits. They are not going to pay themselves.
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Old 05-10-2018, 09:30 AM
 
Location: Island of Misfit Toys
5,066 posts, read 2,850,638 times
Reputation: 4533
Corporations need to step up and pay taxes. Is this the way there? No. What this brings in won't even get close to addressing the problems. Not to mention how much is allocated to 'administration' of the plan which is a joke. Amazon and others need to stop hiding behind loopholes and start paying their fair share. They use the infrastructure more than anyone else in the end. So help pay for it. Given the the wash of cash they got from the Fed this is even more vital. States/cities will get less and less Fed dollars so have to make it up somewhere.

From what I've read the Mayor isn't exactly for this tax but not totally against the concept. haha
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Old 05-10-2018, 09:47 AM
 
Location: Seattle
513 posts, read 496,550 times
Reputation: 1379
I'm a progressive and I am opposed to the head tax. How it is to be spent is ill defined, and to be honest, if this town has the money for fancy painted crosswalks and all kind of social justice outreach, they should have the money for homeless. They literally just spent 200k to add 3 garden plots to the p-patch across the street.

If homeless is really an emergency, then they should start delaying these extras to take care of the homeless. Just because I'm willing to pay more in taxes doesn't mean that I want money wasted. If the efforts we are seeing today are an example of the millions we currently spend, I don't think we should throw good money after bad.

I think that the city council takes advantage of the generosity of city voters. I'm actually going to start voting "no" in protest until they start tightening up a bit.
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Old 05-10-2018, 10:46 AM
 
Location: Independent Republic of Ballard
8,065 posts, read 8,322,549 times
Reputation: 6223
The application of a "head tax" (the Taille) was one of the factors which led to the French Revolution. Even though it was supposed to be a per head tax on landowners, who were charged with paying it, it was the "heads" (peasants and workers) that it ended up falling on.
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