The city of Seattle is already struggling. With a new tax on jobs, its city council seems determined to make things even worse.
The COVID-19 pandemic and local government lockdowns economically decimated Washington state in March, with Seattle hit especially hard in the early days of the virus’s spread. In the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, Seattle saw the biggest spike in unemployment of any city in the country. The city’s economy continues to flounder amid the pandemic.
On top of all this, Seattle descended into chaos and controversy on June 8 when Antifa and other radical left-wing activists seized control of a neighborhood and declared themselves the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone.” Like so many before it throughout history, this utopian social experiment sadly turned deadly and ended 24 days later after multiple shootings.
Nonetheless, the Seattle City Council has decided that now is the right time to impose a new tax burden on its residents. On July 6, the council passed the so-called “JumpStart” tax, which specifically targets middle-class jobs.
The council’s new tax will affect employees at medium-to-large companies, but not most small businesses. Applied to businesses with a total payroll of $7 million or greater, it will impose an additional 0.4 percent to 2.4 percent payroll tax on jobs that pay an annual salary of $150,000 or higher. This is on top of already steep federal and state payroll taxes.
Councilwoman Teresa Mosqueda promises that the new tax will create a “more robust and resilient economy.” Meanwhile, her fellow Councilwoman Kshama Sawant called it a “victory for working people.” Both claim the tax will raise $200 million in revenue for what they argue are much-needed social service programs such as housing subsidies.
It’s not surprising to see Sawant leading this class-warfare charge. She’s an avowed socialist—and isn’t shy about it.
The city official recently railed against Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in a widely shared video where she promised that she and her supporters are “coming to dismantle the deeply racist, sexist, violent, utterly bankrupt system of capitalism” and replace it with “a socialist world.” Sawant has also promised to “take into public ownership the top 500 corporations and banks that dominate the US economy.”
...Worse, in an infuriating but sadly typical twist, the Seattle City Council exempted all government employees from their new tax. That’s right: The supposedly benevolent socialist city officials who thrust this upon their constituents made sure to carve out a giant exception for their peers on the taxpayer dime.
According to OpenTheBooks.com, 601 city employees in Seattle earned $195,000 or more. Analysts found that “tree trimmers lopped off $160,604; the chief librarian made $197,704; electricians earned $271,070; electrical lineworkers made $307,387; and police officers earned up to $414,543.” The new payroll tax will not apply to any of these government employees or their peers otherwise drowning in taxpayer cash.
So, no, the city council’s new tax is most certainly not a “victory for working people.” It’s a tax imposed on working people by politicians who made sure to spare the government class from sharing any of the burden...
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