Tax Amazon collects 15,000 Signatures in 15 days as Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda Moves Alternate $200 Million Per Year Big Business Tax
A Sign that Progressive Demands are Powerful and Winnable
As millions of people around the country are on the streets in an unprecedented uprising for black lives, society as we know it is being shaken up. Demands that only a couple weeks ago weren’t even on the horizon are now within grasp. Dozens of local governments around the country are now under enormous pressure to defund their police departments and pass other far-reaching legislation that gets at the roots of systemic racism.
It’s within this context that Seattle city councilmember Teresa Mosqueda Tuesday put forward an alternate big business tax with the support of some unions and big business, that would raise $200 million per year for affordable housing and COVID relief.
Over the last two weeks the Tax Amazon coalition has collected 15,000 signatures for our ballot initiative to tax big business to fund green, publicly-owned, affordable housing. This is an indication that ordinary people are looking at the movement for black lives, the dystopia of COVID-19, and an economic crisis, and they want to see real, sweeping change come out of it.
Seattle DSA members have been at the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP, also known as CHAZ) everyday, collecting signatures to defund the police and get Tax Amazon on the November ballot. We recognize that decades of displacement of working class communities of color has been both carried out by the Seattle Police Department (evictions and homeless encampment sweeps to make way for housing development) and exacerbated by continuous harassment and violence at the hands of the police.
Councilmember Mosqueda's big business tax proposal is a significant step forward in the Tax Amazon coalition’s effort to redistribute some of the wealth the corporations have accumulated back into the hands of working class communities. At the same time, we must acknowledge that this proposal is substantially watered down from the Tax Amazon ballot initiative we have been collecting signatures for.
Councilmember Mosqueda proposes:
- $200 million/year instead of the annual $300 million/year
- A sunset clause after 10 years
- A killer clause, if the state or the county pass similar legislation
- Weaker language around having union-built, publicly-owned, affordable housing and green-retrofitting of homes
The Seattle city council has a history of backflipping under pressure from big business, as we saw in 2018 when the majority of the council voted first to cut a proposed big business tax in half, down to $48 million, and then to repeal it altogether when big business indicated they weren’t happy with any tax at all.
We therefore need to keep maximum pressure on this council by continuing to collect as many signatures as possible with the aim of qualifying for the November ballot. If the council goes ahead and votes in this $200 million big business tax, that means we are in a better position to fight for even bigger wins in the year ahead.
Seattle DSA has been clear from the start: This is just one small step in our effort to fight for a Green New Deal with job guarantees for all, with a massive investment program benefitting predominantly communities of color, with a just transition to a carbon emission-free economy and Medicare for All.
This battle for the future of life on our planet is the struggle for democratic socialism in our lifetime. Let's celebrate this huge step forward, push it over the finish line and discuss together how to build on it!
In solidarity,
Harris and Chris
Co-Chairs of the Tax Amazon / Green New Homes Committee of Seattle DSA
PS: If you still need the petition or if you want more information, please go to GreenNewHomes.org.
