Sawant weighs public vote on new 'Amazon tax'
Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant will bring back the "Amazon tax" next year, and she thinks it will have to be passed through a ballot initiative.
The so-called head tax was the Seattle business story of 2018. The City Council's unanimous approval of the $275 per full-time employee levy on large companies awakened the business community, which launched the No Tax on Jobs campaign. It aimed to repeal the tax through a public referendum.
Seeing momentum for the referendum build, the council repealed the tax, which would have raised about $250 million over five years to fund development of affordable housing and services for the homeless.
Buoyed by her come-from-behind election victory last month, Sawant will launch the "Tax Amazon 2020" campaign on Jan. 13, the day she will be inaugurated for her second four-year term.
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2019/12/24/sawant-weighs-public-vote-on-new-amazon-tax.html?ana=e_mc_prem&j=90390991&t=Morning&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTURKbE1XVXhabVUyTWpVdyIsInQiOiJqbXNnQ09VcDZINm1hRlI5N0lIYVFLTnQydU9oSW16ZVZ6R29cL1RcLzM4VVJvQzlIendoYnFCeDB3dmNvNlJMd2d2R3VkckJjMEtxMG1sRSt1dkJnMVYxKzhjbCtsNUZjeWIwVUQxdUxoa2pCQzl5SlZyaE9TUE5NWEJPb3lEZkZ3In0%3D
Is this an improvement or a rehash of the last attempt? Under the last proposal companies such as Dick's Hamburgers and Uwajumaya would have been subject to the tax.
