Amazon exec says recent head-tax stance isn't a reversal from 2018 position
A top Amazon executive this week said Amazon’s recent decision to support a new head-tax proposal in the state legislature is not a reversal of its position from two years ago.
Amazon engaged in a bitter fight with the Seattle City Council in 2018 over Councilwoman Kshama Sawant’s proposal to levy a tax of $275 per employee on Seattle businesses making more than $20 million a year. The money would have funded homelessness services and affordable housing efforts in Seattle. Amazon shut down construction on one of its towers in protest over the tax, and the council scuttled the proposal after an uproar rose from the business community.
Earlier this month, Amazon joined Microsoft, Costco and other major King County employers in supporting a similar tax, this one proposed in the state legislature and aiming to provide homelessness services and affordable housing across all of King County.
“It’s not a reversal at all,” said Brian Huseman, Amazon’s vice president of public policy, about his company’s support, at least in concept, for the legislature’s proposed tax. “This is a regional solution to housing and homelessness, which is definitely necessary in the Puget Sound area. Basing (a tax) just upon Seattle or just upon Bellevue or Redmond is not going to be the solution that's needed for that region.”
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2020/02/27/amazon-exec-says-recent-headtax-stance-isnt-a.html?ana=e_me_prem&j=90490431&t=Morning&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTURrNU5qUmpPRGc0T0dNeiIsInQiOiJjRW5Eb2FUZ2VBeDVTQlhHQ0hOVldtbEQ3R1JVdmNLM2VwTU5FeG8rangwT0xKcGxKdkloM3pvWVphcFZxaVJLNno4NHhPcUppWE5VWmtJdWc1ZURGcWRpVnMrOEJiaEpFM01USktTRGV5emJLVmxkcW1uRnlBdGpxTDdqcUc1biJ9