Seattle's Crusade Against "The Rich": $47 million Head Tax is repealed a month after it was signed

[Higus]

I was actually sort of rooting for this one. I just moved to Seattle (which is why I haven't been on the 'dog much for the last couple of months). There is a pretty big homeless problem and it would be nice to see a major city actually go to corporations to pay for it rather than taxing citizens or doing nothing. That said, it was a pretty big tax proposed and the resistance was totally predictable.

 

[Rygu]

I was actually sort of rooting for this one. I just moved to Seattle (which is why I haven't been on the 'dog much for the last couple of months). There is a pretty big homeless problem and it would be nice to see a major city actually go to corporations to pay for it rather than taxing citizens or doing nothing. That said, it was a pretty big tax proposed and the resistance was totally predictable.

Why should corporations pay for the homeless problem?

 

[Rational Poster]

Why should corporations pay for the homeless problem?

The people that benefit the most from the state have the greatest obligation to contribute to it.

 

[bobgeese]

I was actually sort of rooting for this one. I just moved to Seattle (which is why I haven't been on the 'dog much for the last couple of months). There is a pretty big homeless problem and it would be nice to see a major city actually go to corporations to pay for it rather than taxing citizens or doing nothing. That said, it was a pretty big tax proposed and the resistance was totally predictable.

Your progressive policies are the cause of your homeless problem.

 

[Rygu]

The people that benefit the most from the state have the greatest obligation to contribute to it.

They do by providing jobs.

 

[all caps]

I was actually sort of rooting for this one. I just moved to Seattle (which is why I haven't been on the 'dog much for the last couple of months). There is a pretty big homeless problem and it would be nice to see a major city actually go to corporations to pay for it rather than taxing citizens or doing nothing. That said, it was a pretty big tax proposed and the resistance was totally predictable.

The city has already lost an unimaginable amount of money towards the homeless and it has done nothing but make the problem worse. They dont deserve anyone else's money.

 

[panamaican]

Why should corporations pay for the homeless problem?

Because the pressure that they create on the housing market is a significant contributor to the uptick in said homeless problem.

 

[Rygu]

The state is going to exist with or without them. It's a place and a system.

Companies come and go.

So a company moves to Seattle. They employ people, and those people pay taxes. The taxes go to the city. So the company provides jobs, and pay tax.

So how is it the companies responsibility to pay for the homeless problem?

 

[Rational Poster]

So a company moves to Seattle. They employ people, and those people pay taxes. The taxes go to the city. So the company provides jobs, and pay tax.

So how is it the companies responsibility to pay for the homeless problem?

It's in the company's interest to keep the streets safe and clear for business.

Also, corporate domination of real estate market is real and contributes to the ever increasing rent and real estate value, particularly in locations like Seattle where people really want to live.

 

[Rygu]

It's in the company's interest to keep the streets safe and clear for business.

Also, corporate domination of real estate market is real and contributes to the ever increasing rent and real estate value, particularly in locations like Seattle where people really want to live.

I live 30 min from Vancouver, so I know all about how that goes. I would love to live in Vancouver, but I can't afford $2200 for a 600sq foot 1bdr condo. So I live a few cities away where I can afford to live.

 

[panamaican]

That in everybody's best interest. Everyone benefits from it. The state, the people, and the business.

Yes but it's the pressure that the employers put on the housing market and the transportation infrastructure that contribute to the problem. And, unfortunately, the bigger and faster the corporations grow the greater the impact they will have prices within the housing market. Which will only increase the housing problem.

Affordable housing is a legitimate problem in many cities. There's a great article in the American Conservative which lays out how people ignore that the majority of American houses are sub-$60k houses.

Speaking to this subject, that's fine considering that 50% of people in Seattle make $50k or less. But when the housing costs, including rents, start jumping up the ability to purchase a home or afford rent goes down and people who previously might have lived in low income rentals can no longer find such options.

So from an economic perspective, the fast growth of high income earners fueled by successful corporations does lead to an increase in homelessness unless some kind of intervening step is taking by the cities in question.

 

[bobgeese]

Does it matter?

It's in society's interest to take care of everyone so we don't have homeless clogging the streets, increasing crime, and lowering property value.

It absolutely matters.


As long as progressives keep on coddling these people, the problem will continue to grow.

 

[panamaican]

I live 30 min from Vancouver, so I know all about how that goes. I would love to live in Vancouver, but I can't afford $2200 for a 600sq foot 1bdr condo. So I live a few cities away where I can afford to live.

I assume you make enough money to cover the cost of transportation from your residence to your place of work and back. Which isn't true of everyone, especially those on the lower end of the income scale. Public transportation could solve that problem but that's entirely dependent on the state of the infrastructure getting out to those parts of the greater metropolitan area.

 

[Rational Poster]

I live 30 min from Vancouver, so I know all about how that goes. I would love to live in Vancouver, but I can't afford $2200 for a 600sq foot 1bdr condo. So I live a few cities away where I can afford to live.

That still doesn't solve the current state issue with homeless being there.

 

[bobgeese]

Would you not agree that corporations, who just received a huge federal tax break, who were experiencing record levels of profits before the tax break, are in the best position to correct the problem that directly impacts their ability to do business in the city?

If all that money doesn't trickle down into the community, what's the fucking point?

No. That’s not a corporations job. Their job is to make a profit. They offer the community jobs and services.

FFS why don’t y’all push for those homeless to get jobs instead of giving them more shit?

 

[Rational Poster]

Cleaner safer streets are the responsibility of the city.

Hence my criticism of their progressive ideology.

And the city is having trouble with that, due to the ever increasing rent and real estate price, and they're looking to the citizens that have benefited the most and just received massive influxes of free money to help with the problem.

 

[TheFirstEMP]

That still doesn't solve the current state issue with homeless being there.

That problems not going to change any time soon. Look at how bad it has gotten up the coast line.

 

[Rational Poster]

That problems not going to change any time soon. Look at how bad it has gotten up the coast line.

At your solution is less effort to correct?

I think that'll work.

 

[bobgeese]

And the city is having trouble with that, due to the ever increasing rent and real estate price, and they're looking to the citizens that have benefited the most and just received massive influxes of free money to help with the problem.

It’s due to coddling these wastes of life.

News flash, if you reward people for bad behavior, they’ll continue that bad behavior.

 

[TheFirstEMP]

At your solution is less effort to correct?

I think that'll work.

The issue of the homeless isn't due to increasing housing costs. Drug addiction, mental illness, these things need to be treated and yes it will cost tax payer dollars to do so, but this wasn't the way to do it.