Seattle Taxes Starbucks, Amazon to Help Homeless

The Story

• This week, the Seattle City Council passed a new tax on big businesses to fund services for the city’s growing homeless population.
• The compromise plan taxes businesses making at least $20 million in gross revenues about $275 per full-time worker each year, in an attempt to solve a housing crisis exacerbated by Seattle’s rapid economic growth.

What’s at Stake

• The original plan to tax $500 per worker met with aggressive opposition from Amazon, which is headquartered in Seattle. The company has been sparring with Seattle over the tax, and at one point halted construction on an expansion project near its headquarters.
• Starbucks, also headquartered in Seattle, responded with scathing criticism of the city, accusing leaders of incompetence and indifference to homeless families.
• Amazon, Starbucks, and other affected companies have called the new measure a tax on jobs.
• The Huffington Post summed up the crux of the issue:

[T]he fight is about more than just one company or one policy. It is about the growing challenge of running American cities and all the ways companies make it even harder. Seattle faces an impossible choice: Either raise revenue from employers and risk driving them away, or keep levying taxes on voters and risk a backlash that could exacerbate the very problem it’s trying to solve. Whatever happens here, it will be a template for the rest of the country.

What do you think?

Should businesses bear a larger share of the burden for social challenges in their host cities? Should cities focus more on attracting companies that create jobs? Hit Take Action, then share your thoughts below.

--Sara E. Murphy