Five City Council members sent a letter to three of their counterparts on the King County Council, asking them to spend more lodging tax revenues on affordable housing.
Continue reading Five Council members speak up on the lodging tax
Category Archives: tax
Safeco Field and the lodging tax
The King County Council is considering a proposal to allocate about $180 million of hotel and lodging tax revenues toward capital expenditures on Safeco Field. This is enraging community members who think that the money should be spent on affordable housing instead — and certainly shouldn’t be spent on supporting a private, for-profit organization like the Seattle Mariners.
The financial arrangements of the ballpark, the Mariners, and the hotel and lodging tax are rather convoluted. Let’s pick this apart to understand where all the money is going.
Council passes Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy
This afternoon the City Council approved the Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy, sending it to the Mayor for her signature and ultimately to the November ballot.
Continue reading Council passes Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy
Council repeals the head tax
As expected, this afternoon the City Council voted to repeal the employee hours tax, aka the “head tax,” that it enacted last month.
Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy passes out of committee
This morning, before the Council announced that it was repealing the head tax and all hell broke loose, it quietly finished up committee work on the Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy, sending it on its way to the full Council for final approval next Monday and then on to the November ballot for voter approval.
Continue reading Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy passes out of committee
Council moves suddenly and swiftly to repeal the head tax
In a sudden and unexpected move today, Council President Bruce Harrell introduced a bill that would repeal the recently-enacted employee-hours tax (aka the “head tax”) and scheduled a special meeting of the full City Council for tomorrow to deliberate and vote on it.
Continue reading Council moves suddenly and swiftly to repeal the head tax
Council starts to get clarity on Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy
This morning, the Council started to focus in on the adjustments it proposes to make to Mayor Durkan’s proposed Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy. But it wasn’t easy, and they’re far from done.
Continue reading Council starts to get clarity on Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy
The city is poised to repeal a tax. But not really.
Tomorrow a bill will be introduced into the City Council’s legislative process that repeals the tax imposed last year on short-term rentals such as those offered through AirBnB and HomeAway. But if you thought the city might be turning over a new leaf in its tax policy, think again.
Continue reading The city is poised to repeal a tax. But not really.
City files its first brief to state Supreme Court on income tax
Earlier this week the City of Seattle filed its first brief to the Washington State Supreme Court, attempting to entice it to take up the legal challenge to the city’s income tax ordinance.
Continue reading City files its first brief to state Supreme Court on income tax
Understanding the Seattle Waterfront LID
Seattle’s waterfront is undergoing a massive $4.7 billion renovation, including rebuilding the seawall, tearing down the Alaskan Way Viaduct and replacing it with a deep-bore tunnel, rebuilding Colman Dock and the ferry terminal, remaking the Alaskan Way surface street, and improving park and streetscape elements as part of the city’s $688 million Waterfront Seattle initiative. $200 million of the funds to pay for Waterfront Seattle are proposed to come from a new Local Improvement District: a special assessment on downtown properties that are expected to increase in value because of the project. But some residents who will be subject to the assessment are unhappy that they are being asked to foot part of the bill for a project they say will benefit the entire region.
Let’s look at how LIDs work, and how this one in particular is structured.
(5-21-18: updates below)