Durkan Accuses Moon Of Xenophobia In First Mayoral Debate

SEATTLE, WA - The two Seattle mayoral candidates on Tuesday night met in the first post-primary forum of the 2017 election season. The forum, hosted by the Seattle Times, Seattle University, and Crosscut, focused on housing, homelessness, and zoning. The two candidates discussed a variety of intricate policies, but Durkan used one of Moon's proposals as a lever to accuse Moon of discrimination.

In the middle the debate, Durkan and Moon were asked about an idea to tax properties that are bought as investments. Moon has during the campaign and in a series of articles she co-wrote last year proposed taxing real estate investors to discourage real estate speculation, which drives up home prices.

Durkan has said the idea is anti-Chinese, largely based Moon's articles, which reference instances where wealthy Chinese investors have driven up home prices in Vancouver, B.C. (that city has passed a speculation tax).

Durkan has seized on those passages and during Tuesday's debate sent out an email titled "Moon’s 'Signature' Policy Proposal is Xenophobic and Opens the Door to Discrimination." Moon has never proposed a tax based on nationality, just real estate speculators in general.

Durkan was asked to name a criticism of the speculation tax other than that it's allegedly discriminatory. At one point, Durkan suggested a special tax on vacant properties would be a better approach, which is essentially what Moon has proposed. Durkan also accused Moon of making up the problem of real estate speculation just to suggest a solution for it.

Durkan's campaign has underscored that the speculation tax has also been called a "foreign buyers tax" or a "targeted tax." But Moon has specifically said she doesn't like the term "foreign buyers tax." Durkan's campaign has also called Moon's proposal a "non-resident tax."

"Corporate and non-resident owners is the actual term," she told The Stranger's Eli Sanders in April after he asked Moon about "a tax on foreign buyers." "I think people like to use 'foreign' to imply something different than it is. It’s people profiteering instead of living in the spaces."

Durkan claimed that she met leaders of the Chinese-American community in the International District last weekend who were "hurt" by Moon's ideas because of the mention of "Chinese money" in Moon's articles.

"I think that folks in the Chinese community were misinformed, maliciously misinformed possibly," Moon said. "I've never ever ever suggested a tax based on the location of where people are from. I've said a tax based on the activity to disincentivize [speculation]."

"I don't think Cary Moon meant to be discriminatory, I don't think that's who she is ... words matter," Durkan responded. "When you write an article that says Chinese money will be targeting Seattle next, if you're a Chinese person who reads that, you may think that's who [the tax is] targeting."

Both candidates agreed that the issue has not been studied in Seattle to determine whether it's having an affect on affordability.

Either way, both the King County Assessor and Seattle City Attorney say that a tax on speculators would likely be illegal.

You can watch the full exchange at about 48 minutes into the forum:

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