Seattle Head Tax Hearing Draws Scores Of People

SEATTLE, WA - The Seattle City Council chambers was packed Wednesday morning for a hearing on the proposed employee head tax. The meeting began at 9:30 a.m., and sparks began flying as soon as the Council opened up the meeting to public comment.

One person took the podium to call Councilwoman Kshama Sawant a "communist" - although she is a socialist. All Council members were present at the start of the meeting, except Councilman Mike O'Brien.

The head tax - also called the employee hours tax or progressive tax - would cost certain employers about $540 per employee per year. The city predicts the tax would generate some $75 million in revenue annually, which the city would use to combat the homelessness crisis.

Only companies that earn more than than $20 million per year in gross receipts would pay, and it would expire in 2021. Just under 600 companies in Seattle meet that criteria.

The proposal has created a schism in Seattle. Last week, iron workers heckled Sawant at a rally outside the Amazon Spheres building. Hundreds of small and large Seattle businesses have written to city officials to insist the proposal be quashed. The Seattle Times editorial board has called for Council to reject the idea.

The vocal Safe Seattle group has organized local residents who are incensed about how the city has dealt with the homeless crisis - largely because they think city officials have squandered taxpayer money. At a town hall meeting on the head tax in Ballard last week, Safe Seattle-allied residents showed up to shout and swear at city officials.

Sawant's rally begins Wednesday morning at 8:30 a.m. at Seattle City Hall.

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