Capitol Hill and the Central District’s Seattle City Council representative Kshama Sawant and her South Seattle counterpart Tammy Morales are putting forth a proposal to accelerate their Tax Amazon effort to raise around $200 million in funds to help residents overcome the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

The new version of the legislation slated for council chambers would shift revenue from a tax on Seattle’s largest companies to provide four months of $500 cash payments to 100,000 qualifying households across the city in an emergency measure prioritizing assistance to “seniors; those that are undocumented, immigrants, and refugees; individuals experiencing homelessness; working people who have lost incomes and become destitute as a result of the pandemic; and, others who experience structural or institutional barriers to accessing support from the government.”

“We know that $500 a month will not cover rent fully; but it can help buy groceries or diapers or help cover health care costs. And we know how important it will be to pass legislation that addresses these issues holistically and work with our partners at every level,” Morales said in a statement announcing the plan. “It is also vital that Seattle begin to think strategically about how to rebuild our communities in a way that ensures resiliency and full recovery for our neighbors.”

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More than 133,000 Washingtonians filed for unemployment benefits from March 15-21, up from just over 14,000 the week before, according to the Employment Security Department, as the state’s moves to blunt the spread of the novel coronavirus virus got more and more restrictive. King County residents accounted for 37,296 of the jobless claims that week. More than 41,000 were in the accommodation and food services industry.

The new proposal would bring “accelerated legislation” to create a 1.3% excise tax on “the corporate payrolls of for-profit companies whose payrolls are greater than $7 million annually” starting June 1st. Nonprofits, public employers, and grocery stores would be exempt.

For its first year as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds, the funds would be dedicated to providing emergency cash assistance for up to 100,000 low-income households, “including those that have lost income as a result of the pandemic.” Then, beginning in 2021, the taxes raised would be applied to investments proposed in the initial effort: affordable social housing, and a Green New Deal jobs program.

The spending plan includes starting the relief effort by borrowing $200 million from other city programs:

Earlier in March, Sawant announced that Morales had joined as co-sponsor on the Tax Amazon legislation to create a payroll tax on the city’s largest 3% of businesses in Seattle to raise $300 million annually for homelessness and housing programs.

Meanwhile, the Taz Amazon group formed to push for the new tax announced it was filing to hold a ballot initiative on the tax “in order to fund social housing and a Green New Deal” this fall.

In 2018, the city council passed and then rolled back a $275 per full-time employee tax on companies reporting $20 million or greater in annual “taxable gross receipts.” That tax would have generated about $50 million annually.

A ballot initiative in Seattle on a business tax to help pay for the homelessness crisis would not be unique. In 2018, voters approved a measure in San Francisco that taxed businesses to fund housing and services. That tax was expected to generate about $300 million a year.

Tens of thousands of Seattle's workers laid off or lost pay in #COVID19 pandemic. Meanwhile, corporations like Amazon are raking it in. Time to Tax Amazon & other big biz in Seattle to fund emergency relief & then affordable housing? Sign our petition! https://t.co/sg56gk77ss — Kshama Sawant (@cmkshama) April 1, 2020

As the ballot push continues, Sawant and Morales are now lined up to continue a complementary push for the tax in Council chambers.

Any economic relief in the city would join the federal $2 trillion bill, the largest economic relief bill in the nation’s history. The federal package has cash for individuals including one-time payments of $1,200 per adult making up to $75,000 a year, and $2,400 to married couples making up to $150,000, plus $500 payments per child. The bill also allocates $250 billion for unemployment insurance to more workers — including self-employed people — and would lengthen the duration. The bill would provide an unemployed worker an additional $600 weekly benefit provided by the federal government. There are also breaks for federal student loan programs, and retirement accounts.

“Working people desperately need help, and federal and state aid is not nearly enough to help households avoid hunger and destitution,” Sawant said Wednesday. “Yet at the same time, we know it will take a mass movement to win this legislation, because the political establishment will spare no effort to protect big business even during this crisis.”

Seattle’s business leaders are set to continue their opposition to a new payroll tax. “We are in a crisis that calls for collaboration and partnership,” said Alicia Teel, spokesperson for the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. “Our economy looks very different than it did a month ago and we need leaders to bring us together, not drive us apart. Our region faces a long road to recovery, and the Chamber is working with local, state, and federal leaders to make that recovery as inclusive as possible.”

The offices of Morales and Sawant say the proposal will be brought in front of the city council on April 6th. Monday, the council approved a non-binding resolution calling on leaders to impose an immediate moratorium on rent and mortgage payments.

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