People attending a Seattle City Council meeting hold signs that read "Tax Amazon, Housing for All," and "No Tax on Jobs" listen to public comment on the debate over a possible council vote whether or not to repeal of a tax on large companies such as Amazon and Starbucks that was intended to combat a growing homelessness crisis, Tuesday, June 12, 2018, at City Hall in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
SEATTLE -- One of the main groups opposed to the recently-repealed employee head tax says it will go ahead with a plan to file an initiative to overturn the measure anyway.
The move comes the same day a lawsuit was filed alleging the Seattle City Council violated the state's Open Public Meetings Act in its haste to repeal the head tax.
"Out of an abundance of caution, the No Tax on Jobs Coalition decided today to file our nearly 46,000 petition signatures," says spokesperson John Murray. "We commend the courageous action by the Mayor and City Council and agree with the Seattle City Attorney’s opinion that the jobs tax has been officially repealed in accordance with notice requirements. Submitting the signatures ensures that we are on record regarding the jobs tax repeal."
The controversial plan to tax big businesses in Seattle $275 per employee originally passed with a unanimous vote by the Seattle City Council and was signed by Mayor Jenny Durkan, over the vocal dissent of large local companies such as Amazon and Starbucks. The city said the money would have raised about $48 million to support programs fighting homelessness.
But the tax sparked fierce opposition and opponents quickly gathered signatures to place a referendum on the fall ballot repealing the tax.
City council members reversed course and on Tuesday during a boisterous meeting in council chambers, voted 7-2 to repeal the tax. Now supporters of the tax repeal say they'll file their signatures just in case.
"We remain committed to working together with the mayor and the city council on homeless and housing issues," Murray said.