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from the with-the-power-to-tax-comes-the-power-to-destroy dept.
Amazon fails to unseat pro-tax city council members in Seattle
Amazon has suffered a setback in its own backyard as several candidates for Seattle's City Council won election despite a $1.5 million campaign by business groups to defeat them. That included Kshama Sawant, an incumbent and socialist who has been a thorn in Amazon's side in recent years. The vote was held last Tuesday, but the results only became clear in recent days.
The result is significant for Amazon because last year Seattle's city council passed a $275 per employee tax on large employers. Amazon, Starbucks, and other large Seattle businesses blasted the law and funded a ballot measure to overturn it. Facing the threat of having their law overturned by voters, the city council itself repealed the measure a month after it passed.
If business groups had defeated pro-tax candidates in last week's election, it would have made the city council very reluctant to consider taxing employers again. Instead, the election results have emboldened supporters of an "Amazon tax."
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday November 13 2019, @01:47AM (9 children)
I don't think cities can impose an income tax. But whether that be so, or not, there are ways around it. My early work life after leaving school saw "school tax" and "employment tax" taken out of my paycheck. I've never seen either of those, since moving away from my home state of Pennsylvania. Neither of those was a large sum (actually, my paycheck was no large sum, LOL) but both were divided between the city and the county. Different states, counties, and cities have different tax schemes, but they all pretty much accomplish the same thing. And, all schemes can be "targeted" toward the wealthier residents, or toward the general public.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday November 13 2019, @02:23AM
I have never heard of a "school tax" before, but I suppose in a world where there have been window taxes, and beard taxes anything is possible.
I'll make the scruffy buggers shave! [wikipedia.org]
That is true. Unfortunately the wealthy tend to have the means to minimise their share of many schemes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @02:49AM (4 children)
Cities may impose income tax in the USA, but most don't.
(Score: 2) by Booga1 on Wednesday November 13 2019, @03:59AM (3 children)
Just FYI regarding Seattle, WA. There is no Washington income tax allowed.
https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=36.65.030 [wa.gov]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @04:18AM (1 child)
Taxable income is gross income, not net income. Did you have a point to make, or are you blissfully ignorant of how income tax works?
(Score: 2) by Booga1 on Wednesday November 13 2019, @10:17PM
Yeah, here's the proof that the judges have ruled otherwise: http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/754238.pdf [wa.gov]
For easier digestion: https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/publications/detail/local-income-taxes-are-illegal-in-washington-state [washingtonpolicy.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @04:49AM
And there is no sales tax in Montana.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @03:30AM (1 child)
Pennsylvania had a fucking "occupation tax", flat at $10/person/year. For a tax that just served as a counter, it took several hours as a minimum wage peon to pay for.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday November 13 2019, @02:53PM
Don't know when that was, but I know for certain that I paid more than $10/year. About a dollar a week, and a bit more when I worked overtime. At a guess, I paid somewhere around $70, possibly a bit more for the year. As I said, it wasn't much, but it was there.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 13 2019, @05:20AM
Depends on the state. In my state, the state specifically reserves the ability to impose capitation, sales, excise, and income tax to itself. The local governments can only charge taxes authorized by the state (mostly property tax) and collect certain state taxes on behalf of the state, in exchange for some of the proceeds.
However, in other states, some do impose income taxes, payroll taxes, dividend taxes, etc. on the city or other local governmental level.