News Gleams: Harrell Introduces Head Tax Repeal, and Garden House Up For Sale
collected by Emerald Staff
Harrell Introduces Head Tax Repeal
As first reported in the Stranger, Seattle City Council President and District 2 (South) representative Bruce Harrell introduced an ordinance on Monday to repeal the city's employee hours tax to fund affordable housing and homelessness services.
Commonly known as the "head tax", the employee hours tax charges businesses with gross revenues in excise of $20 million annually a $275 tax per employee.
Speaking at a press conference, Harrell said in reference to an alternative plan that there was "no ordinance being drafted or a clearly articulated replacement strategy."
In a statement on a potential vote on the repeal, councilmember Teresa Mosqueda said:
"There's a lot of conversation about looking at other solutions. The reality is, we've looked at a lot of them.I participated in the countywide 'regional approach' through One Table — a group that's been indefinitely paused.We worked on a payroll tax option and moved away from it at the request of a few large businesses.We also paused revenue efforts last year to create a task force comprised of members of the business community and housing advocates — an effort that was boycotted by several larger corporations. I cannot support repeal of the EHT without a similarly sized progressive revenue option."
Councilmembers are expected to vote on the repeal during a special full council meeting tomorrow. The tax was signed into law by Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan last month and was scheduled to go into effect in 2019.
Beacon Hill Garden House Up for Sale
The Beacon Hill Garden House, currently the home of Beacon Arts, is being put up for sell. Beacon Arts is currently organizing a community meeting to be held at 7pm, Tuesday, June 12 at the Garden House (2336 15th Avenue) to discuss how to preserve it as a historic cultural site. Organizers hope to enlist volunteers to apply for Seattle Landmark Status, raise funds to purchase the property, and hire a real estate attorney.
King County NAACP to Hold Elections
Elections are now open for officeholders at The Seattle/King County NAACP. Anyone wishing to run for office must submit a consent to serve form to NAACP Office (715 23rd Ave, S. Seattle, WA 98144) no later than June 15, 2018. In order to run for office or a seat on our Executive Committee, you must be a member of the Branch on or before April 1st this year and a member in good standing. The consent to serve form can be found online in NAACP Election Procedure Manual, completed and sent to the Branch by June 15, 2018 to qualify as a candidate.
Featured image courtesy of Seattle City Council
