Tax Amazon Takes a Back Seat, High-Earners Payroll Tax Plows Ahead
As of Monday, the only business payroll tax that the Seattle City Council will continue discussions on is Teresa Mosqueda's JumpStart Seattle plan. There are currently two different payroll taxes and one capital gains tax under consideration.
Mosqueda announced that Councilmembers Kshama Sawant and Tammy Morales had reached an "understanding" that makes JumpStart Seattle tax the base legislation for the council's conversations around a progressive payroll tax. The goal is to tax businesses to raise money for COVID-19 relief and housing.
This will allow the council to "streamline" any amendments or modifications to the bill and to "focus" their deliberations, Mosqueda said. In the week since she announced the proposal, Council President Lorena Gonzalez and Councilmembers Lisa Herbold, Andrew Lewis, and Dan Strauss have all signed on to co-sponsor the bill. Sawant and Morales didn't get any co-sponsors to their bill that's been on the table (with a few hiccups that stalled its progress) since April.
Mosqueda's payroll tax is estimated to raise around $200 million through taxes on companies that report over $7 million in annual payroll and companies that report over $1 billion in payroll. It will only tax the paychecks of high-earners (over $150,000) at different rates.
Read more: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2020/06/22/43953711/tax-amazon-takes-a-back-seat-high-earners-payroll-tax-plows-ahead
