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Seattle reverses course on business tax after Amazon pressure
The Hill ^ | Reid Wilson | Reid Wilson

Posted on 06/12/2018 9:23:05 AM PDT by yesthatjallen

Just weeks after passing a new tax on big businesses, Seattle political leaders signaled late Monday they would reverse course and repeal it.

Mayor Jenny Durkan and city council President Bruce Harrell said in statements that they would end the tax, initially meant to combat rising homelessness in a city where housing prices have soared.

“We heard you,” Durkan and seven of the nine city council members said in a statement. “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.”

Business groups, led by the city’s largest employers like Amazon and Starbucks, had raised $200,000 in just a few weeks to gather signatures for a referendum challenging the new tax. They had planned to submit those signatures on Tuesday in an effort to place the referendum on the November ballot.

“The announcement from Mayor Durkan and the City Council is the breath of fresh air Seattle needs,” said Marilyn Strickland, who heads the Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce. “Repealing the tax on jobs gives our region the chance to address homelessness in a productive, focused and unified way.”

The tax would have fallen on businesses that generated more than $20 million in revenue. The 585 businesses in the city that qualified would have faced a $275-per-employee tax, money that would have gone to pay for affordable housing and programs aimed at curbing homelessness.

ETC...

(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: amazon; seattle
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1 posted on 06/12/2018 9:23:05 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
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To: yesthatjallen
The lesson:

If you have a trillion dollars at your disposal (and blackmail material on the politicians) "You have a voice". :-(
2 posted on 06/12/2018 9:25:23 AM PDT by cgbg (Hidden behind the social justice warrior mask is corruption and sexual deviance.)
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To: yesthatjallen

They are Poor Politicians to not recognize who runs them.


3 posted on 06/12/2018 9:25:40 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: yesthatjallen

Don’t be lulled to sleep. They’ll be back, spurred on by the socialist on the council. The left is never satisfied.


4 posted on 06/12/2018 9:25:50 AM PDT by DPMD
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To: yesthatjallen

Hey you commies...check this out! An evil corporation putting its boot on the necks of the oppressed. Again.

If the left weren’t so serious about screwing up the world, it would be a joke.


5 posted on 06/12/2018 9:26:02 AM PDT by henkster (Monsters from the Id.)
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To: yesthatjallen
“We heard you,” Durkan and seven of the nine city council members said in a statement.

Yeah, we heard you. But we just ignored you.

6 posted on 06/12/2018 9:26:14 AM PDT by rjsimmon (The Tree of Liberty Thirsts)
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To: yesthatjallen

Billionaire marxists think that YOU should be paying more in taxes, not them.


7 posted on 06/12/2018 9:26:38 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Spygate's clock began in 2015 - what did President Obama know and when did he know it?)
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To: yesthatjallen

I thought the Socialists loved taxes. What’s the problem?


8 posted on 06/12/2018 9:27:08 AM PDT by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: yesthatjallen

The city officials forgot who pays the taxes and faced ballot-box rejection and folded. Sadly, they’re still determined and will find another way to get this money. What they should instead do is wake up and realize the citizens of their community do not want to throw more money away on the homeless and these do-gooder endeavors that don’t really fix anything.


9 posted on 06/12/2018 9:29:13 AM PDT by Reno89519 (No Amnesty! No Catch-and-Release! Just Say No to All Illegal Aliens! Arrest & Deport!)
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To: yesthatjallen

We are wealthy, uber-leftists. Taxes are not for us; taxes are for the little people.


10 posted on 06/12/2018 9:39:48 AM PDT by TXBlair (We will not forget Benghazi.)
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To: yesthatjallen

Did Seattle just grow a brain? I hear San Francisco is moving their homeless to “settlements” to clean up the streets. Who’s next to grow some neurons, Los Angeles?


11 posted on 06/12/2018 9:41:05 AM PDT by A Navy Vet (I'm not Islamophobic - I'm Islamonauseous. Plus LGBTQxyz nauseous.)
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To: Reno89519

The thing I see about this is that the city could have taken care of these ‘homeless’ by two simple methods. Pick up those who have job potential and help them write resumes and apply for jobs. The second method is to pack them up and move them to fairly inexpensive surroundings way outside of the city. There’s no reason to pay upscale prices for homeless people who have no real return to the city in terms of value. I see the same problem in Washington DC and NY City. The NY City crowd wants to shovel out $40k a year on people with no return value.


12 posted on 06/12/2018 9:42:16 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: yesthatjallen

HQ2 will be HQ1.


13 posted on 06/12/2018 9:43:19 AM PDT by DownInFlames (Gals.)
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To: Reno89519

I want to see a quote from that Burka wearing Mooselimb council person who was more than happy to fleece Amazon just a few weeks ago.


14 posted on 06/12/2018 9:43:21 AM PDT by VRWCarea51 (The Original 1998 Version)
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To: pepsionice

“The second method is to pack them up and move them to fairly inexpensive surroundings way outside of the city.”


That ought to really delight the people that live way outside of the city./s

.


15 posted on 06/12/2018 9:44:52 AM PDT by Mears
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To: pepsionice

The thing I see about this is that the city could have taken care of these ‘homeless’ by two simple methods.


Do you think your simple plan will be welcomed by the people living in the inexpensive housing outside the city.

Zero was way ahead of you …………………..


16 posted on 06/12/2018 9:45:27 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: pepsionice

And don’t forget to add Honolulu to the list.


17 posted on 06/12/2018 9:46:56 AM PDT by animal172 (Call me simply deplorable.)
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To: yesthatjallen

The checks cleared the bank.


18 posted on 06/12/2018 9:49:47 AM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: fella

Evil corporations.


19 posted on 06/12/2018 9:50:20 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: cgbg

Bah.

This was a stupid tax, and the inmates took charge of the asylum here and passed their anti-capitalist, job-wrecking tax.

Durkan, apparently, isn’t immune to logic, or economics.

You bring 47,000 jobs to a city. Is there ANYTHING ELSE they can do for you??

They have a homeless problem because they CREATED a homeless problem, and now they can’t fix it without getting the rabid goats in their party all worked up.


20 posted on 06/12/2018 9:50:50 AM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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