“Seattle City Council just voted 7-2 for a big business tax that will raise at least $214+ million dollars annually. The JumpStart legislation will provide relief to workers, families, and small businesses, and will fund energy-efficient, affordable housing and Green New Deal investments. This is a real step toward reversing Washington’s regressive tax system, and a downpayment on Seattle’s Green New Deal.”- 350Seattle
Thank you for gathering signatures Greens! From allies at TaxAmazon: Yesterday, Seattle City Council took the final vote to pass an Amazon Tax that will raise well over $200 million per year to fund affordable housing….
Clearly this is a huge win, raising over four times more than the Amazon Tax that City Council passed and then repealed in 2018. This time they did not cave to the corporate pressure, and instead voted to empower the citizens of Seattle. This was a hard won victory (shout out to Transit Rider’s Union), one that deserved more than lip service the first time around, and riding on the crest of this victory, the movement needs to decide what to do next to maximize empowerment for the grassroots.
On July 8th, (Wednesday evening) the followup TaxAmazon Action Conference will be at 6pm on zoom (link here). Check out the resolution proposed by the Tax Amazon Coordinating Committee here, and please join this important discussion!
“Amid the coronavirus lockdown, local governments everywhere are rolling out budget cuts. Corporate politicians hope to make working people pay for this crisis while wealthy businesses like Amazon make record profits and Wall Street gets trillions in bailouts. In Seattle, our victory signals a reversal of this trend. This is an offensive victory to expand progressive funding for working people’s needs, rather than the attacks on public services being brutally carried out by political establishments across the country. Now is the time to spread this victory across the country. We saw this happen with the $15 minimum wage — let’s make it happen with Tax Amazon! Our rallying cry everywhere must be: NO to austerity and attacks on public services! Tax big business and the rich, not working people!“
