Seattle's 'Amazon tax'

The Seattle City Council approved a new $275-per-employee tax on big companies in the city to raise money for homeless services

People before a Seattle City Council meeting.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

The smartest insight and analysis, from all perspectives, rounded up from around the web:

"What responsibility do companies have toward the communities in which they function?" asked Aseem Prakash and Nives Dolsak at The Hill. To the Seattle City Council, the answer is quite a lot. Last week, the nine-person panel unanimously approved a new $275-per-employee tax on big companies in the city, in order to raise about $48 million annually for homeless services. Seattle is in the midst of a homelessness crisis: Between 2015 and 2017, the number of people sleeping on the street grew by 44 percent, and some 400 homeless encampments now dot the city. But Seattle's biggest companies, including Starbucks, Expedia, and Alaska Airlines have loudly complained that a tax on them is the wrong approach; Amazon — the city's largest employer — even briefly froze construction on a new, 17-story tower in protest. The threat was clear: "You tax, we leave." Residents are divided over what's become known as the "Amazon tax," said Nick Wingfield at The New York Times. On the one hand, the e-commerce giant has brought tens of thousands of highly paid jobs to the city. But home prices are rising faster than anywhere else in the country — the median home price is now $777,000 — forcing many longtime residents out of the area or "onto the streets."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More