The Jumpstart Seattle tax was a take-off-the-mask moment for Seattle that is still reverberating through Seattle politics.
Some would have us believe low taxes are more important than investments in the social safety net, the Green New Deal, and racial equity. They’d have you believe a progressive payroll tax on Seattle’s 700 largest companies would result in them packing up shop and heading to Bellevue or leaving the region entirely. And, moreover, if they did that, Seattle’s economy would sputter and it’d be like the Boeing Bust all over again with poor people ending up worse off, or so the argument goes.
Leaning on that story to prop up their case, Seattle’s business elite are trying to get even with the Seattle City Council over passing the Jumpstart progressive payroll tax, which is projected to pull in about $235 million next year. They have backed a slate of candidates (opposite of The Urbanist’s elections committee endorsements) who evade talk of new taxes and insist homelessness can be solved without new revenue — despite repeated studies stating that’s not the case, including a 2018 McKinsey study putting the annual cost for Seattle to solve homelessness at an additional $400 million at least. In 2020, McKinsey updated their report and pegged the needed investment into the $1 billion range.
McKinsey and Company is usually a go-to name in corporate consulting, but in this case Seattle business leaders have ignored the findings. In fact, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce is attempting to block Jumpstart with lawsuits — one of which already failed — and hijack homelessness policy with the Compassion Seattle charter amendment effort, which perpetuated the myth that homelessness can be solved without new funds but ultimately was struck down in court before it could appear on the ballot.
But low taxes and deference to big business is not the secret to Seattle’s success or its growth. Seattle grows because it’s a great place to live and it makes infrastructure investments other regions neglect. President Biden popularized the idea of social infrastructure in his jobs plan, emphasizing that things like child care, health care, and housing are infrastructure, just as much as transit, roads, and bridges. To its credit, Seattle has been investing more on a social infrastructure than many other American cities.
Downtown and South Lake Union are certainly economic engines, but look to the University District for what will keep Seattle outpacing its rivals. A major university nestled in a growing sea of skyscrapers but also surrounded by natural beauty and urban forests. Few university campuses can boast of being integrated into a dense urban environment while also being so near top-notch urban parks, state parks, and national parks as UW can. And its bold plans to grow its campus and boost enrollment by 20% will continue to ensure Seattle is where businesses want to be located to have access to that talented workforce.
