Seattle’s Direct Tax on Jobs - the “Head Tax”

In 2018, the Seattle City Council proposed a massive tax on jobs in the city, commonly known as the “head tax” because it was a per-employee tax directly tied to the number of jobs. The chief proponent of this jobs tax was and still is self-proclaimed socialist Kshama Sawant.

More than 500 business in Seattle would have been forced to pay tens of millions of dollars due to Seattle leaders’ failure to address the homeless crisis in our neighborhoods. After insider political maneuvering and backroom deals, a tax that would have forced businesses to move or layoff employees was passed by the City Council.

Within a week, Seattle workers and job creators united to push for this tax to be repealed, gathered tens of thousands of signatures to put an initiative on the ballot removing it. Rather than face the voters, the City Council retreated and repealed this tax - for now.

The “head tax” may be a breaking point for over-taxed Seattle residents and businesses. For the first time in a decade, multiple survey research sources showed a majority of Seattle residents changing their answers on key perspectives, including moving from “right direction” to “wrong direction” in regard to Seattle’s progress. After the tax was enacted, Seattle residents drop the approval ratings for many Councilmembers below 40%, with some receiving a grade as low as 20%. Seattle residents learned our City Council was more concerned with raising our taxes than they were with delivering quality services.

In early June 2018, KIRO7 released a survey reflecting this change in Seattle residents, showing 54% disapprove of the “head tax” to only 38% who approve. Opposition increased exponentially as the amount taxed per job increased and trustworthiness for the Council entirely evaporated.

In 2017, the City of Seattle spent $95 million on homeless programs along with King County spending an additional $100 million. Homelessness is a crisis in our region, but it’s time the City of Seattle make due with their existing $1.3 billion in yearly revenue and get to work solving this problem instead of just throwing hard earned tax dollars at it. Until politicians earn our trust and show us they are using our money efficiently, we need to stand up and say enough is enough.

Moving forward, this repeal of the “head tax” is only a setback for the Seattle City Council and pro-tax politicians across Washington State. Unless we the taxpayers stand strong, elected officials will look to our pocketbooks to continue financing their runaway taxes rather than roll up their sleeves and get to work making sure our state, and our cities and counties are safe and affordable for everyone. Join us in the fight against run away taxes and out of control spending.