Seattle council backs taxing Amazon, others to help homeless
Seattle leaders on Monday unanimously approved a tax on large businesses such as Amazon and Starbucks to fund the fight against homelessness after weeks of heated debate and raucous hearings.
City council backed a compromise plan that will charge large businesses $275 per full-time worker each year, lower than the $500 per worker initially proposed. It would raise about $48 million a year to pay for affordable housing and homeless services.
Council members who sponsored the initial proposal said the amount wasn’t enough to address urgent housing needs, but conceded they couldn’t get the six votes to override a potential veto by the mayor. The compromise measure emerged over the weekend after Mayor Jenny Durkan indicated Friday she wouldn’t support the tax at the higher rate.
Coun. Lisa Herbold, one of the tax’s sponsors, said she struggled with the compromise package given how many people are in need, but that it was the “strongest proposal” they could bring forward.
“People are dying on the doorsteps of prosperity. This is the richest city in the state and in a state that has the most regressive tax system in the country,” said council member Teresa Mosqueda, a co-sponsor of the measure, who said the plan gives the opportunity to build the housing the city needs.
They voted as people packed the meeting, holding signs saying “People before profits” and chanting “Housing is a human right.”
Other cities have implemented similar taxes, but critics say Seattle’s tax could threaten the booming local economy and drive away jobs.
Nearly 600 large employers making $20 million in gross revenue would pay the tax that would begin in 2019. Amazon, the city’s largest employer with 45,000 workers, would take the biggest hit.
The debate over who should pay to solve a housing crisis exacerbated by Seattle’s rapid economic growth comes amid skyrocketing rents and rising homelessness. The Seattle region had the thirdhighest number of homeless people in the U.S. and saw 169 homeless deaths in 2017.
Supporters insist the online retailer and others that have benefited from Seattle’s prosperity and contributed to growing income inequality and skyrocketing rents should pay. Businesses and other critics say the tax is misguided and potentially harmful. They question whether the city is effectively using the tens of millions of dollars it already spends on homelessness each year.
Amazon raised the stakes this month when it halted planning on a 17-storey tower near its hometown headquarters as it awaits a tax vote. It also is rethinking filling office space in another leased building. The two office spaces would accommodate about 7,000 new Amazon jobs.