I signed the petition for the referendum on the head tax and said no to the other petitions. And it's shocking I tell you that canvassers spread lies to get people to sign their petitions. Not like the left has never engaged in such behavior

I never sign petitions, but I do have a question that will cause something called a “thought” to run through some of your minds.

Why is trickle down generally accepted for transferral of property taxes to renters, but not for taxes on employers?

Generally ambivalent, but it’s always fun to know a few wheels whirred and a few gears were ground.

Fake news Stevie.

I love how far the author must stretch to make the anti-tax statements “misleading.”

“Well, do you want to pay more taxes?” the canvasser responded.

She didn’t say you’d be paying them directly.

“I asked the petitioner whether I would be taxed under the ordinance. She did not give a clear answer,”

Because you asked a trick question, and you knew it. Your previous paragraph says clearly individuals will not be taxed.

After that, it’s off to rumorville.

Pretty weak stuff. You guys must really fear the Referendum effort.

@3:

ZOMG! You might end up paying a whole $0.05 more per trip to the grocery store - THE HORROR! THE HORROR!

Rumor has it the canvassers are being bused in from out of town

@6 will individuals who don't operate a $20mil business be taxed or no? Taxes are direct; indirect taxation is as valid a term as illegal alien. Not sure how this is verbal flim flam on the part of the questioner.

@7 More like a $.05 per product purchased.

@9: It was a “verbal flim flam” because he asked if he would pay the tax — him personally. As the writer had already clearly stated, the tax is not levied upon individuals. No person will be taxed, not even a person who owns a business.

Most people I talk to aren't opposed to and can afford X amount of increased cost for homeless initiatives. Where this breaks down for me is accountability...both in the millions already collected and new taxes pursued. The city has very clearly shown a lack of accountability and general good sense in handling an exponential problem. Throwing good money after bad is not a solution, but is the problem itself

@12 I fully agree. My fear is that this tax will be used to provide a dozen or so six figure sinecure jobs for political cronies who will in turn make a kickback in a form of donations to the Alternative Socialist party.

Here's my own anecdote regarding a no-head-tax referendum signature gatherer. I have a neighbor who's just the sweetest, kindest older lady. Widowed. Never heard of her being involved in anything political. Now, I see a note from her in the building saying she's got a petition and we're welcome to sign it.

Clearly, my neighbor is not a paid signature gatherer. And the other signature gatherers I have encountered (including the one whose petition I signed) have smacked of being volunteers. They were passionate and they weren't hawking any other petitions.

Add in the conversations I've heard around town and I'm pleasantly surprised by the grassroots groundswell against the head tax.

However, the salaries and wages of employees and contractors of said companies will be "taxed" as the extortion and racketeering demands by city hall will not likely be met by companies diverting or liquidating other assets. In addition, projects are likely to be put on hold - hard hit could be research and development.

Governance without intelligence has its consequences.

This is almost as relevant as President Trump whining about Rosanne Barr being fired by ABC.

I did talk to a paid signature gatherer, who said nothing incorrectly. She had multiple petitions, which I looked at one by one. It may be some paid gatherers are using hyperbole, but I have not come across it. There are hundreds of volunteer signature gatherers, all local folks who have had it with the City Council and their lack of accountability. Ask them where they are from. (Closeby) Ask them how much they are getting paid. (Nothing) I stood there and watched at a Dicks Drive In this evening. I saw them gather about a signature a minute. Most people don't even ask any questions. They know what that petition says, and they are signing it. All I hear the signature gatherers say is, are you a registered voter in the City of Seattle. People want a vote. People have had enough.

@18: This. Thank you.

The genius of democracy does not reside in any ability to deliver the correct answer, the first time, every time. No system designed and operated by Homo Sapiens can ever do that. The genius of democracy is that our decision, which we made today to the best of our knowledge, does not bind tomorrow’s electorate. That future electorate may alter or abolish it, as they see fit.

We citizens of Seattle have the sovereign power to decide if this head tax shall stand or shall fall. No one may dictate that to us.

I'm one of the petition gatherers. It's possible I may even be the one McKay encountered at Folklife last weekend. Apparently there are a few paid sig gatherers, although I haven't met any yet. Frankly, if they're paying gatherers, the repeal campaign should save it's money for the inevitable city challenge to the referendum. But I, and everyone I know gathering sigs, are all strictly volunteer. I could make some good money collecting signatures for this, but I refuse to out of a matter of pride.

I'm doing this because I love my city. I've lived here for a quarter century. I've been a democrat all my life. And I've had enough of the incompetence, waste, and fraud of our local government. Enough's enough. Sign the petition, get it on the ballot so that (in Sawant's words) "the people" can have a say on it. And let's send these clowns a message that we don't trust them anymore. They've proven they're not up to the task.

"I identified myself as a journalist"- well, that's a false claim right there.

I don't like the sound of people giving up. If you don't like how your city is run, then run yourself. Stop telling them "they're doing it all wrong and it won't work!" So find something that works. Or shut the hell up and let them do their jobs because that's what we voted them in to do.

@23: Despite being called Trumpian for daring to note how our money is being wasted, we’re not giving up. We’ve filed a Referendum on the head tax, because we want a real debate over whether we should have it, not the “how large should it be” debate our City Council decided should be the limit of our dialog.

I personally will participate in this effort because the city has been told, in two separate reports, that we are in fact doing this wrong, but our City Council simply won’t listen. None of them are on the ballot this year, so electing anyone to replace them right now is not an option.

Not as misleading as telling people this tax will reduce homelessness.

Which is more likely? That employers will pass on this tax and everyone will end up paying a bit more? Or that this tax will materially improve conditions in Seattle?

@15:

Even for you that's a pretty stupid presumption. Aside from federal/state/municipal income tax withholdings, and FICA (which are really contributions) please point out any other single tax that shows up on a paycheck. Or are you assuming employers are simply going to dock everyone's salary by $275 per year to cover it? Because, I'm pretty sure in almost every case that would be flat-out illegal, since it's a violation of federal labor law to deduct anything from an employee's salary that are not for their direct benefit (e.g. income tax or voluntary deductions) or else court-ordered garnishments.

Steven, a real journalist might have also reported that former Stranger writer (turned “political comedian”) Brett Hamil has suggested that people who support the tax put phony signatures on the petitions: https://www.facebook.com/brett.hamil/posts/10160700781070268

Maybe that’s his idea of “political comedy?” There’s another name for it: “misdemeanor.”

It’s understandable that you overlooked that, since you were busy doing undercover work. As for soliciting rumors and more made-up BS about the signature gatherers, why don’t you also do a little reporting on the assholes who are interfering with the petition process?.

@26: You didn't notice the quotes around "tax" I guess. An employer can set the salary, regardless of any deductions or withholding.

Oh, I noticed them. But that doesn't change your implication that this would be passed along directly to employees, which, as I stated would be illegal. Yes, employers set salaries, but there are limitations. For example, if there's a union contract in-place the base salaries are enshrined in the contract itself, and the employer can't arbitrarily cut salaries in order to force employees to absorb operating costs that should otherwise be born by the employer. Are you actually attempting to argue that an employer with revenues of $20,000,000 or more a year is going to be able to force their employees to take a pay-cut because of this, just so they don't have to pay the tax out of their own pocket? Yeah, because what could possibly be the consequence of their doing so in a tight job market with the lowest unemployment rates in nearly a half century?