by DCG
Did you know seven of the nine Seattle City Council members’ terms expire next year?
In early May the Seattle City Council approved a new business head tax to combat the homelessness crisis. From my post:
“The tax is an amount businesses pay per employee ($275 per year), with a sunset clause of 2023. The head tax was approved by a unanimous vote.”
The main target of this new business tax was Amazon, which was not pleased with the tax. “Amazon had strong words for the Seattle City Council as it questions its future in the city. “We are disappointed by today’s City Council decision to introduce a tax on jobs,” Amazon Vice President Drew Herdener said in a statement.”
Immediately after the tax passed, a group calling themselves “No Tax on Jobs” gathered enough signatures to put the matter on the November ballot and let the voters decide. They needed 17,000 signatures by June 14 and surpassed that amount.
On Monday, Council President Bruce Harrell announced that he had called a special meeting for the council to discuss repealing the head tax. (Harrell’s term expires next year.) They already had a draft bill prepared for the repeal.
Mayor Jenny Durkan issued a statement regarding the consideration of the repeal. Excerpts from her statement:
“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.”
Less than a month later the council has voted to repeal the head tax.
The council yesterday repealed the head tax by a vote of 7 to 2. More details from MyNorthwest.com:
“Seattle Councilmember Lisa Herbold said the opposition to the tax was just too great. The opposition, she said, has “unlimited resources.”
Teresa Mosqueda, one of two council members to vote against a repeal, said she is concerned that a repeal will result in months of inaction and more regressive taxes. The process to implement a head tax took months, she pointed out. And, if the city wants to continue getting people off the streets, it will need additional funding. She called on businesses who opposed the head tax to come to the table with progressive ideas.
Numerous people in support of the head tax expressed similar concerns as (socialist) Councilmember Sawant, who accused her peers of making a last-minute decision and “caving” to Amazon. “Backroom betrayal” and “caving” were thrown around frequently.
“Jeff Bezos is our enemy, he is our enemy,” Sawant said before the council voted.”
Read the whole story here.
I can’t believe the Seattle citizens are putting up with this clown council with a socialist member who is calling the owner of one of their largest employers an “enemy” in a public forum.
Yet I gather from the comments on this article and also at the Seattle Times that some proggies in Seattle are finally waking up to the madness they elected as the majority have had it with the council members. Next year’s re-election cycle is bound to be a hoot.
DCG
PS: Jason Rantz from KTTH Radio tweeted from the repeal meeting (see his Twitter timeline here). A bunch of socialists/proggies were there to support the crazy council member Kshama Sawant. A few of Jason’s tweets:
- “Lunatic just claimed the Council is pushing “the Trump agenda.”
- “Priest is mad that Christians don’t ideologically agree with him and now claims you can’t call yourself a Christian if you support capitalism. This guy is a lunatic.”
- “Sawant activists in the crowd shouting down speakers whom they disagree with. But remember: they’re fighting fascism or something.”
- “We’re done with Trump tactics,” said one lunatic at the
#headtaxmeeting.” - “Crazy women being removed by security now but because she’s a Progressive activist, the crowd doesn’t mind and she’s getting a pass from the crowd.”
- “Socialists think the couple hundred of them that worked to pass the Seattle head tax is more important than the 45k who signed on to repeal the
#headtax. They don’t know how numbers works: it’s why they’re Socialists.” - “Sawant said she’s now talking as an economist and some in the crowd just laughed at her. Loudly. That annoyed her.”
- “CM Sawant – “I’m speaking as an economist….” People in
@SeattleCouncil chambers break out in laughter….”
Sounds like the meeting was a whole lotta crazy!!