@1 The right-wing maniacs keep telling me freedom isn't free, so that should be fine with everyone, right?

"... new council, now with a 7-2 progressive majority, (or a 5-4 majority, depending on how you count Andrew Lewis and Dan Strauss ..."

Which begs the question -- how do you count it? Seriously, what members of the council do you consider progressive, and what members are not? How does that compare to the old council?

If support for progressive taxes differentiates a "progressive" versus non-progressive, how many would actually oppose such a tax? By my count the number is zero, just like the old council. The problem is, very few options for taxing have even been explored, and none of them are progressive. Many of them (like a flat tax) are extremely regressive.

Rich Smith quotes all these magical fuzzy-math numbers without actually providing any sources to back up his magical fuzzy-math numbers.

I'd say do a package: cut the city sales tax by 1 percent, instate the already passed income tax, instate a capital gains tax, and reinstate the EHT to fully fund bike lanes and transit passes for citizens.

No matter what you do, they'll yell at you. So ask for what you want.

And make sure all such taxes are a flat tax with a single exemption, as required by our State Constitution. So, for capital gains tax on all non-retirement non-condo/home capital gains make a basic exemption of $50,000. No, you can't add other exclusions.

I hope they go hard and fast. It's the only valuable contingency.

Option 1: They do a bunch of socialist stuff and it works. 4 more years! Plus a model to export to other cities.
Option 2: They do a bunch of socialist stuff and it fails. Angry voters recoil and they're out in 4 years.
Option 3: They get stonewalled by Durkan, Amazon, Chamber of Commerce, Pedersen, and other political roadblocks. Everything stays the same. A vast political machine will blame any remaining issues on the council.

This mandate is only worth anything if it gets put to use.

@2

BAM!!

Besides, Bezos will be distracted by the Seahawks.

Mandate.
Mandate.
Mandate.

Tax the rich and they'll simply relocate outside the city limits. Duh.

Are any Seattle progressives capable of logical thinking?

Nothing's going to happen. They're all performance artists. Seattle has always run on the almighty dollar, and always will. But it's fun own the cons, isn't it?

Rich is already trying to lay out excuses for the zombie apocalypse that will result from a council filled with left wing ideologues. It is pretty obvious that the state-sanction heroin dens and coddling policies toward drug vagrants dumped here from the suburbs and beyond will make the problem worse. It is like pouring gasoline on a fire. It is a sad day for Seattle. Fuck the Stranger, Sawant, Warren and the extremists that created this humanitarian crisis and Amazon for playing right into their false narrative with a stupid PAC donation.

The well housed are already being taxed, a lot. Anyone at The Stranger get a property tax bill lately? Tax the corporations that demolished housing and are hiring new people that are driving the price of what remains up.

I've lived in Boston, Manhattan, and LA, all of which have and have had for many years, high state, city, and even county taxes. They all still have serious problems, which are actually getting worse. Anyone who thinks they can tax their way out of problems, is knowingly and intentionally, delusional.

Who needs to make tough budget decisions or increase accountability and results with the largest tax base in city history, when you can just scream "soak the rich" and increase taxes over and over and over again.
I like how now "restructuring" the Head Tax so that it doesn't tax Dick's Burger flippers the same annual per employee fee as Amazon is now under discussion.
Dumbest tax ever. Literally would reduce employment. Which honestly, is what I think the end goal here is. Not to soak the rich because they're rich they can just leave or expand in Bellevue hurting the workers you claim to represent.

@17 I don't know, maybe?

If you reckon it's going to be easy to find efficiencies, why don't you just go have a look and get back to us with a list of which departments can absorb budget cuts with no ill effects, and by how much?

I hear this argument a lot, but weirdly it's never from anyone who's offering any specifics on where the cuts can be made.

It would be nice if socialists could point to any one example of success since Karl M. put pen to paper, but they can't. Socialists should be renamed the Feces Liberation Front ... we expect every success from them ...

I think they should first work on the Regional Homeless Authority. Seattle should not be the only place putting in permanent supportive housing or shelters. Sometimes in addiction it is best for an addict to be away from the environment where they were in addiction. That means there needs to be shelters all over the place to help people have more chance at recovery. Also, Seattle should not be the only one paying for services. Outlying cities need to pay their fair share!

Oh - and if they don't pressure the prosecutors office and the City Attorney to do more enforcement - it will hamper any possible hope of success on homeless issues.

@6 "Option 2: They do a bunch of socialist stuff and it fails. Angry voters recoil and they're out in 4 years." Please, we'll double, then triple down on the failure because either we didn't do it right, or we didn't do it hard enough... But never will we admit failure.

@5- are you saying that s capital gains tax should not apply to condos? What would justify that?

Be careful what you wish for affluent urbanites with impressive disposable incomes! "Rich" may include people like readers of The Stranger...

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All problems are Global: the Greedsters have no issues perpetrating Treason: what the fuck do you think the IMF, BIS and the like are for? Pfft! --- theyrule.net & littlesis.org & ctj.org.

Why are we talking in $millions when large tech companies are willing to pony up billions (albeit not to a bureaucracy they don't trust.) https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/11/apple-commits-two-point-five-billion-to-combat-housing-crisis-in-california/

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