Seattle City Council repeals controversial new per-worker tax on large employers

The Seattle City Council voted 7 to 2 to repeal the recently enacted per-worker tax on large employers aimed at raising money for homeless services and affordable housing.

The tax, which the council passed unanimously, was crafted as an answer to the city’s housing affordability problem that many attribute to rapid growth in the technology industry by the likes of Amazon.com Inc. The council’s reversal comes after a spirited effort to gather signatures to put a repeal question on the November ballot.

The council’s original measure called for a $275 per employee tax. The region reportedly has a homeless population of more than 12,000 people.

Amazon, the city’s top private employer, halted its expansion plans in the city pending the outcome of the vote. Some homeowners were reportedly frustrated by the city’s response to homelessness, which included tents and RVs moving into residential neighborhoods.

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.