One of Seattle’s most controversial proposals in years passed unanimously in city council today — but after some significant revisions.
The council voted 9-0 to require large Seattle businesses to pay $275 per employee in taxes for housing and homeless services. It sunsets in 2023. That’s down from $500 per employee proposed in the initial head tax plan, which faced a potential veto from Mayor Jenny Durkan.
The head tax will raise $45-49 million a year, down from the $75 million a year in the earlier proposal that prompted a sharp response from Amazon and a racous community meeting.
Here’s more on the story from KOMO News and the Seattle Times.