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Seattle passes new tax on large companies despite Amazon’s howls of protest

Posted by $ nickursis 5 years, 11 months ago to Government
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I think the Progressive left looter minde works in reverse, they get worse the smaller the target audience. Cities just keep hammering their people with tax after tax and wrapped up in lie after lie. 230 million for "homeless programs". Yep, sure, look how well all that has worked in Kalifornia, where a lot of the homeless actually have jobs but cant afford rent or a house...
SOURCE URL: https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/14/seattle-passes-new-tax-on-large-companies-despite-howls-of-protest-from-amazon/


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    Posted by $ Your_Name_Goes_Here 5 years, 11 months ago
    Apparently the private sector is nothing more than a piggy bank for Socialists. I hope and trust that Seattle gets its due - the death of its Golden Goose by way of businesses fleeing the city.
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    • Posted by $ 5 years, 11 months ago
      It is so sad that greedy politicians will destroy every city and state economy because they see "loot" and want it. Look at their "sugar tax", most people gave them the middle finger and went outside the city. Costco put up signs saying to go to their Redmond store to avoid it. That is right near mutiny overall. yet the idiots keep it up, and the drones vote them in...again and again...
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      • Posted by KevinSchwinkendorf 5 years, 11 months ago
        I think it was also Seattle that put in an ammunition tax - a penny per cartridge or something like that. It wouldn't be too onerous if you're buying a box of 20 centerfire cartridges for deer hunting, but what about a box of 500 (also known as a "brick") of .22 rimfire? That would be another $5.00 tax on something that is already too high (about 50% higher than 10 years ago). The solution? Buy your ammo outside city limits! The only people that hurt were the unfortunate "mom-and-pop" sporting goods stores that happened to be within city limits (assuming any remaining in Seattle).
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    • Posted by KevinSchwinkendorf 5 years, 11 months ago
      In true free-market capitalism, sure, the socialists collapse as their stupid ideas and policies kill the Golden Goose. I would love to see that happen to Seattle (I live in Washington, but 220 miles east of there). I would REALLY love to see that happen to Moonbeam and his communist state of Kalifornia. My biggest fear is that as collapse becomes imminent (and unavoidable), someone will proclaim Seattle (or Kalifornia) "too big to fail" and will give them all the bailout money they need, no matter how many thousands of billions that may be. We don't have that much money? No problem! Spend it anyway! (Its called "deficit spending!") - And, as just interest on the national Debt exceeds total tax revenue (the "point of no return"), the credit rating of the US gets demoted again (from its already demoted "AA" rating), which causes increases in the interest rates charged for further borrowing, and we get hyperinflation, etc., etc. (Just like Germany in the 1920s.)
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      • Posted by NealS 5 years, 11 months ago
        I left S. Kalifornia in 1977 when Moonbeam was elected the first time. Then I had to leave the Seattle area in 2016 as I felt intimidated for saving a bunch of money for my retirement that I am unwilling to share. I managed to move a little further than you, almost exactly 300 miles east of there. I plan to die where I'm at, but not right now, there's too many fish left to kill.
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  • Posted by ProfChuck 5 years, 11 months ago
    The next step will be for Seattle to pass a law making it illegal for a company to flee the city. This is So Atlas Shrugged. I wonder if Bezos is beginning to wonder of liberalism all all that great after all..
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    • Posted by $ Radio_Randy 5 years, 11 months ago
      Union groups, in Seattle, were already suing Amazon for halting construction on a planned expansion, until the vote came out on the "Head Tax".
      So far as making laws against businesses fleeing a failing economy...that was Venezuela, about a year ago, I believe.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 5 years, 11 months ago
    Why is me dino thinking about some quaint bygone group called The Sons Of Liberty?
    They just for once dressing up like American Indians would not pass the PC smell test.
    Oops, I wrote "Indians." Let's change that to "American indigenous natives."
    There, there, me dino fixed that deplorable PC boo-boo.
    So it's all better now.
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    • Posted by KevinSchwinkendorf 5 years, 11 months ago
      I wonder if there are any "progressives" out there who like Sam Adams beer? (without knowing what Samuel Adams stood for?) :-)
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      • Posted by $ allosaur 5 years, 11 months ago
        Ha! Me dino can freaking believe that!
        Bet there's plenty of college graduates who can't tell you who the Washington Monument is named after despite the king-sized hint that comes with such a question.
        That I base on having seen Watter's World and Man On The Street interviews.
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  • Posted by term2 5 years, 11 months ago
    Is this any surprise? The looters go after the most $$ per lost vote. That means tax fewer people (or corps) who HAVE money and cant easily leave, and cant exert political influence . Its SICK. Makes one want to be very fluid in investments and never invest in long term things like real estate or businesses that cant easily be sold. Eventually thee will be no more people to loot and the system collapses (check out Venezuela to see how tht works in practice)
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  • Posted by Herb7734 5 years, 11 months ago
    The left coast, showing its hatred or envy of business. The fools are destroying their very lifeblood in consideration of persons who contribute nothing. To the contrary, as one can see, they cost the city.What more is there to say?It is like trying to cure a person who thinks taking arsenic is good for you.
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    • Posted by $ 5 years, 11 months ago
      And cannot be stopped, which is why they are banding together to pass their alliance for the Electoral College vote, if they go as a block and agree that all their votes go to the popular vote winner, they plan to short circuit the system, get back in power and make sure they stay in power at all costs. The Beast was an anomaly, she lost the vote for them and their greedy manipulation leaking out all over, but they will not make that mistake again. The Republicrats are going to let them get back in, since they don't have any major differences with them, just who is getting the squeeze. The Revolution will start shortly thereafter.
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      • Posted by Herb7734 5 years, 11 months ago
        OH, HOW I HOPE YOU'RE WRONG.
        The odds are you are likely right. This is one of the disadvantages of living long. Everything both good and bad eventually comes to pass. But why does the bad always seem stronger than the good?
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  • Posted by voodoo59 5 years, 11 months ago
    This "idea" is so patently absurd and economically insane that its supporters can now, without a doubt, be deemed totally economically ignorant. What this proves, in my estimation, is that these new age progressives are truly acolytes to their failed beliefs- despite their protestations to the contrary. They will continue to push their idiocy regardless of any consequences.
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  • Posted by $ blarman 5 years, 11 months ago
    The Blaze had a great segment on this just this morning, with their featured speaker being a guy who ran a family-owned movie theatre (third generation). They employed a lot of teenagers and such and donated a lot to a nearby homeless shelter - one which operated 50x more efficiently than Seattle's proposal and housed 4x as many beds.

    Pretty soon Seattle itself will turn itself into an urban desert because of their Progressivism. I will watch in eager anticipation and hope it comes sooner rather than later so others can watch the demise and hopefully learn from it.
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    • Posted by Solver 5 years, 11 months ago
      It is a vicious socialist cycle. As these “charity” taxes go up and up, people can’t afford to give as much to real charities. Leftists will use this to justify increasing their “charity” taxes.
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      • Posted by $ blarman 5 years, 11 months ago
        Which "charity" taxes are just redirects of public funds to lobbyists and insiders. Obama's terms were full of this in Solyndra and other solar companies as well as a host of other boondoggles.
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        • Posted by Solver 5 years, 11 months ago
          Right. When they take the money from other people who earned it, they get to decide how that money Is redistributed and they get the benefits of being praised for being so generous.
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  • Posted by scojohnson 5 years, 11 months ago
    Seattle is already in "shock" because their "sugary beverage tax" led to MUCH LOWER sales tax revenue. It's simple, compared to something like $4-$5 for a glass of soda, tea, beer, etc., in a restaurant, the patrons are just choosing water instead. That deflates the meal check, dramatically, and it's going to lead to a large loss of entry-level jobs because that enormous margin on beverages is pretty much the "profit" in a meal for a fast food or lower-priced restaurant. They are not making anything on a $1.00 cheeseburger at McDonalds, they make the profit on the $1.00 for a large soda that costs 2-4 cents each.
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  • Posted by chad 5 years, 11 months ago
    Amazon owners are socialists until the dragon turns and wants to eat them. Unfortunately the real payers of this tax will be the workers who have to earn that money but not get paid so Amazon can pay the tax, the customers of Amazon who will have to pay a higher price that includes the tax, fewer workers to avoid the cost of the tax and eventually the homeless who will have less money to pay for homes because the government is consuming whatever can be produced.
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    • Posted by maxgeoac 5 years, 11 months ago
      Agreed. Karma at work. When will Seattle make a law making it illegal for Amazon, or any of the large companies, from moving out of the city?
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      • Posted by chad 5 years, 11 months ago
        That will happen next to protect the ability of the city to tax the corporation. Of course they could move all but one to another location!
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        • Posted by scojohnson 5 years, 11 months ago
          I was thinking the same thing - at $275 a year, actually, it's about competitive with the annual lease cost of the square footage to "house" the employee - figure around $30.00 / square foot / year, and maybe 10 square feet for a cubicle, so you are very quickly near that tax cost. it wouldn't take much to make the numbers look favorable to just move them. If I was the mayor of Issaquah or Renton, I would be courting every developer in town to get some large office space planned.
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  • Posted by DrZarkov99 5 years, 11 months ago
    Seattle may regret this. Amazon is already looking for a location for a second headquarters. Once that's established, it's much easier to close up shop in Seattle.

    California is making similar noises about a special tax levy on big businesses as a way of addressing their seriously underfunded state pension system. Do they sit awake at night wondering how many people they can alienate and still stay solvent?
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    • Posted by $ 5 years, 11 months ago
      Doc, short answer: NO. They don't care, they carefully calculate the lies needed, tell them and then blame someone else. It works well in Oregon, over and over and over......
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      • Posted by DrZarkov99 5 years, 11 months ago
        I'm old enough to remember when, after Boeing lost the supersonic transport contract, there was a billboard saying "Will the last person out of Seattle please turn out the lights." Microsoft saved their bacon by giving them more than a one-industry economy. Odd that we haven't heard what that company's view is of the head tax. It almost seems the Seattle city government is trying to recreate the Boeing debacle.
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        • Posted by $ 5 years, 11 months ago
          Remember, Boeing moved out of there awhile ago, seeing the writing on the wall, MS is in Redmond, so not effected. Portland is losing a big company from downtown because of the vagrancy issue, but Portland is too busy figuring out how to toll a Federal highway to "force people off the roads" to think up the head tax yet, that will be next year probably. BTW, I watch a documentary on the Boeing 747 and they were designing and building it on a shoestring, because everything was in the SST, then it collapsed. Only the successful 1st flight saved it, and even then it was touch and go on the engines for a while.
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          • Posted by DrZarkov99 5 years, 11 months ago
            Boeing's HQ is now in Chicago, but they still manufacture aircraft in Washington state. Remember, there was a big stink when Boeing decided to open a new plant in South Carolina, and the union had a fit, fearing that was another step to close up operations in Washington entirely. It wasn't until Boeing guaranteed no jobs would be lost in the Washington plants that the Feds and union backed off (government should have kept its nose out, but then it was the Obama era). I'm sure the state government will figure out a way to run MS out soon, as socialist stupidity seems to be contagious.
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            • Posted by $ 5 years, 11 months ago
              Indeed, Doc, it is very contagious, but comes with a dose of greed, as case of irresponsibility and a can of "don't give a sh@t".
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              • Posted by DrZarkov99 5 years, 11 months ago
                The current big stink here in OK is that the Health Services Agency, while wailing about budget shortfall, had in fact kept a secret "slush fund" worth tens of millions of dollars in an account that was out of sight of state auditors. To keep up the fake budget dilemma, the agency laid off 198 county level workers and coerced the legislature into giving them $30M in additional funds. They didn't hire back the laid off workers, left the additional money unspent, and gave their executives fat raises out of the slush fund. While the governor and state legislators are furious, it appears no laws were broken, and the guilty parties are getting nothing more than having to resign. Personally I think there's a case to be made for fraud, with justifiable jail time for those responsible. It ain't just the blue states with corruption.
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                • Posted by $ 5 years, 11 months ago
                  Interesting to see if anyone is prosecuted, I will bet the answer is "no". Oregon has similar instances, and the Feds even want 20 million back and the Dems say NO. Greed and corruption is a standard today. None of them "serve the state" unless they think they ARE the state.
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  • Posted by NealS 5 years, 11 months ago
    "Build It, And They Will Come", reminds me of a movie I once saw, but for the life of me I can't remember which one. All I remember was the slogan. It will take Seattle awhile to realize that when they build homes and facilities for the homeless, more homeless will come to occupy same and take advantage of all the good will. What will be Seattle’s solution when more homeless just keep coming and all the freebees are used up? I'm starting to believe that if I were young today I might just decide to take advantage of a bunch of these freebees myself. Why not? Well not really, I’m just too independent, I learned from my parents most of the values I hold true today, but it could be tempting. I've actually seen a few of my high school classmates (1960 grads) still holding down jobs because they weren’t smart enough to save something for today, but most are not homeless, and then again some still have mortgages or pay rent. The further we go with supporting those not smart enough, the more we will get. I just can’t conceive a future of the US where no one works, everyone just lives off the good graces of those that are willing to give. Never mind, it’s just too mind boggling, there wouldn’t be anyone able to give, people would just exist and have to beg or steal from each other the stuff they need to survive. Here’s an opportunity for Hollywood, a blockbusting movie detailing the destruction of a country that used to be rich and free.
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    • Posted by $ 5 years, 11 months ago
      Also, talking to a guy who has "liberal" in laws in Portland, who live in a condo and have a locked parking garage, and who previously endorsed "helping the poor homeless, who, through no fault of their own, have been ravaged by a greedy society". They now want to know why they have all the vagrants pooping in the doorway, and in the flower pots and breaking into the garage, and why the city (who has yet to be effected, as in pooping in their doorways) won't do something. This reminds me of the City in the Clouds episode of Star Trek, circa 1967. Arrogant liberal elites destroy everything and then blame it on others and want to destroy the world to "fix it".
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    • Posted by $ 5 years, 11 months ago
      Three Movies actually Atlas Shrugged Parts 1,2,3. Oh wait, maybe we need to get them reissued.
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      • Posted by NealS 5 years, 11 months ago
        I now remember the "Build It, and They Will Come" movie, "Field of Dreams". I've read AS three times, so far, in my lifetime. I own the videos of each part. And I own one large film canister full of the film. Our hosts here even offered me the rest of the film but somehow it never came through.
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  • Posted by $ pixelate 5 years, 11 months ago
    Let's call it what it is: Cancer.
    Much like cancer, the homeless are "living beings" as are the productive employees and residents of Seattle. However the homeless produce nothing -- and since they are subsidized, their ranks will only increase.

    One of my friends hosted a lunch from the top floor of his Seattle apartment complex -- a beautiful view of the City was enjoyed. He pointed out a few of the city blocks that had been purchased by Amazon ... as well as the towers that were under development. As has been pointed out already -- the Tax on Amazon will be passed down to the consumers as well as a reduction in the growth of the company's vibrant work force.

    I have a few friends in Seattle -- their property values have gone up a great deal over the past few years. I do hope that they sell and take the profits before the eclipsing of the high-water-mark in home prices. In everything there are cycles -- Seattle will be no different.

    I recall the "sugar tax" in Washington and how my neighbor made the statement "The State really needs that money." I had no comeback ... as Rand would say, I don't speak that language. However, in retrospect, what she was really saying is that:
    1. Her 24 karat gold State Teacher's Pension needs that money.
    2. Her husband on SSDI needs that money.
    3. Her unemployed son on "Obamacare" needs that money.

    Indeed... Cancer has needs... and keeps on exacting those needs... until the host is dead.
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    • Posted by $ 5 years, 11 months ago
      You are exactly correct, many states and cities are lying to their people to cover up their misapproriation of money for their pensions, because if the true scale of it was known they would revolt and throw them out. Oregon has been doing it for a long time, and makes up a story each time, and the peasents buy it. The "tobacco tax" craze of the early 200's was one example, where they raise the taxes 25 cents, 50 cents in increments until they got 3.00 or more a pack, it is now about 6.00 a pack in Oregon, and about 9.00 a pack in New York. That money was said to go "for smoking cessation programs" (all of 100K of 20 million) for 1 year,. The tax is still in place for the general fund, and pays for their shortfall in PERS. Long enough for an election cycle, where they let the Republicans say "We need to fix PERS" (which everyone knows) and then the Dumbocrat howl "They will gut your pensions" and get elected. It is lies, misappropriation, theft and manipulation of the highest order, anyone would go to jail, except politicians. This tax is no different, little will go to the homeless and the rest will "disappear". I posted another article where the useless deputy in Florida retired on 8800 a month, courtesy of the people, after 32 years of what? Military people face a lot more danger in their careers than a Florida deputy, and get 20% of that. Lies, lies and more lies.
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  • Posted by scojohnson 5 years, 11 months ago
    I hope Amazon and Starbucks wise-up and just pack up & leave - I'm sure some Seattle suburb would be happy to have them.
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    • Posted by freedomforall 5 years, 11 months ago
      Problem is that neither Amazon nor Starbucks have the philosophical wisdom to realize the ship of WA state is sinking. They would have to resort to (evil) "selfishness."
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      • Posted by scojohnson 5 years, 11 months ago
        I was in Seattle recently, really looked like a shithole compared to the last time, about 5 years ago.
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        • Posted by $ 5 years, 11 months ago
          It is a shining example of the Liberal paradise that awaits all of the workers in that wonderful peoples republic. No socialist government has ever produced a lasting improvement for their people and the peasants refuse to learn.
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          • Posted by scojohnson 5 years, 11 months ago
            It is always straight up laziness. They have no skills, thus low income. We make everything possible for everyone here, if you are poor, college is basically free (but you have to go). Don't like school - armed forces is a great option (I did both and now back in graduate school after 25 years). We also have trade schools, and other options, but sitting at home on the Xbox getting fat and whining about how shitty life in the US is, is no one's fault but their own - and yet we still throw them the welfare lifeline and politicians brag about how compassionate they are (with money earned by the people that have not been lazy all their lives).

            Mental illness is a big problem, I'll gladly pay taxes if we are politically willing to start working on that. For lazy 300 lb'ers working at McDonald's as a career? No thank you. Figure it out like everyone else does. Stop wasting that free education by acting like an Ass or a thug in class everyday.
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  • Posted by preimert1 5 years, 11 months ago
    I vaguely remember NYC proposed or passed? a "head tax" on employers or employees because they claimed so many worked in the city and used the city's services, but weren't taxed for them because they lived elsewhere and commuted in and out. Any Gulchers remember or care to comment? how did that work out?
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