Who needs to crush an enormous enterprise tax in Seattle? Seems, it’s not Seattleites.
Subsequent Tuesday, Seattle voters will end voting on Proposition 1, our first shot at a social housing mannequin. The unique proposition—1A in your poll—proposes a tax on companies whose workers take residence greater than $1 million a 12 months. That tax would fund the Seattle Social Housing Developer, which might purchase and construct housing that may reliably serve Seattleites who make anyplace from 0 to 120 p.c of the Space Median Earnings (AMI), whereas guaranteeing that everybody’s lease is 30 p.c of their earnings. (We like this concept and suppose you must vote for it.)
Unsurprisingly, the Seattle Chamber of Commerce isn’t stoked on a brand new tax on companies and raised a marketing campaign towards it—1B in your poll—which might try to drag from Jumpstart funds (that are already earmarked for solely various kinds of low-income housing) and undermines the funding mannequin that makes this social housing so distinctive.
The marketing campaign for 1B has been very seen, particularly in our mailboxes, with outsized mailers coated in claims that it’s “for the wealthy,” or quotes alongside Mayor Bruce Harrell’s face. However who’s funding that marketing campaign? In accordance with The Stranger’s evaluation of the marketing campaign donations, nearly two-thirds of their funding isn’t even coming from Seattle. It ought to be apparent that 1B isn’t a individuals’s initiative, but it surely’s not a Seattleites’ initiative, both. Let’s dig into it.
By the Numbers
Okay, let’s begin with the massive image. The marketing campaign for 1A, run by the Actual Change coverage arm Home Our Neighbors, has raised $584,740 in itemized marketing campaign contributions, with a mean contribution dimension of $2,367. The marketing campaign for 1B, run by Individuals for Accountable Social Housing (learn: the Seattle Chamber of Commerce), raised $425,150, with a mean contribution dimension of $13,286. (I hope we’re all studying that in Bernie Sanders’s voice.)
The common marketing campaign dimension provides us a way of who’s funding the proposition: 1A has 182 donors who gave lower than a thousand {dollars}; 1B has 4.
Lengthy Distance Campaigning
Most exceptional, although, is how little of 1B’s funding is coming from inside Seattle: 61 p.c of their funding comes from Bellevue, Redmond, Mercer Island, Fort Price, Texas, Washington DC, and Los Angeles.
Proposition 1 is a Metropolis of Seattle initiative, so different cities shouldn’t have a horse on this race. However taking a look at the place they’re coming from, the $261k in donations is all about defending large enterprise. Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and T-Cell (totaling $220k in non-Seattle donations) hope to keep away from the brand new tax; And people out-of-state donations? $21k of them characterize the actual property business.
In the meantime, 1A is overwhelmingly funded by Seattleites: 83 p.c of their funding has come from inside town. That, and the truth that they’re funded largely by small-dollar donations, tells us what your intestine might be already telling you: Proposition 1A is a Seattle-grown resolution, funded and supported by the individuals who truly reside right here. The opposition? A company-backed effort bankrolled by large enterprise and out-of-town pursuits who would very a lot want to not pay their fair proportion.
Voting ends subsequent Tuesday, February 11. See our voter information right here.
