In all the pomp and circumstance that Council member Sawant orchestrated for the rollout of her “Amazon Tax” bill, she neglected to mention one important point: it was specifically written so that it would not be subject to referendum. And Sawant invoked the COVID-19 emergency to do it.
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“Amazon Tax” bill gets officially introduced
This afternoon, Council members Sawant and Morales officially introduced their “Amazon Tax” legislation into the City Council’s legislative process, but not without a dust-up over who will shepherd it through committee deliberations.
Continue readingSupreme Court declines to hear income tax appeal
This morning the Washington State Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling on Seattle’s progressive income tax ordinance.
Continue readingSawant, Morales revise and accelerate their “Amazon Tax” proposal
This morning, Council members Kshama Sawant and Tammy Morales unveiled an updated version of their proposal for an “Amazon tax,” re-tuned to provide relief for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Continue readingI-976 appeal goes straight to the state Supreme Court
Last week the parties challenging the constitutionality of Initiative 976 filed notice that they intended to appeal Judge Marshall Ferguson’s recent ruling directly to the state Supreme Court. Today they kicked off the arguments, with an emergency motion to stay Ferguson’s ruling until their appeal is resolved.
Continue readingJudge issues new orders in Initiative 976 case
Today Judge Marshall Ferguson issued new orders in the legal challenge to Initiative 976, in response to requests from both the plaintiffs and defendants to reconsider parts of his February 12th ruling that largely upheld Initiative 976.
Continue readingMayor announce relief measures to address impact of COVID-19
This afternoon, Mayor Durkan announced a list of initial efforts to address the economic impacts that businesses and workers are feeling from the response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Continue readingCity and county officials discussing options for Transportation Benefit Districts
Seattle and King County officials have been discussing among themselves whether it would be preferable to renew the Seattle Transportation Benefit District funding in a fall ballot measure, or to propose a county-wide transportation benefit district in August instead.
Continue readingTwo years in, we still don’t know if Seattle’s soda tax is working
In June of 2017, the Seattle City Council passed a 1.75 cent-per-ounce tax on sugary beverages, which took effect on January 1, 2018. Today, over two years later, we still don’t have any idea whether it’s succeeding — or even a clear, agreed-upon definition of success. And that situation is unlikely to change soon.
Continue readingHB 2907 dies, but gets resurrected as HB 2948 (updated)
In the ongoing saga of the current state legislative session, last night was the deadline for bills to be passed out of their “house of origin.” One of the many bills that didn’t make it was HB 2907, the much-talked-about bill sponsored by Rep. Nicole Macri that would grant King County the authority to impose a payroll tax to pay for affordable housing and homeless services. For the last several days, Macri had been negotiating with a variety of stakeholders to find a compromise that could gather enough support to pass, and the clock ran out. But today, Macri introduced …
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