Seattle debates whether to expand big business tax to balance city's budget

Seattle’s business community is bristling at a proposal to expand taxes that target large, wealthy companies in the city. It’s one of several ideas that came out of a workgroup of stakeholders tasked with exploring ways to close an impending budget gap.

One option: expanding the so-called JumpStart tax passed by the City Council in 2020.

Business groups say there are a number of other reforms the city could make to balance the budget before expanding taxes. Progressives, on the other hand, point to Seattle’s booming population and growing crises — like homelessness and addiction — as reasons more revenue sources are needed.

In its current form, JumpStart taxes Seattle companies with payroll expenses over $8 million a year who have employees earning more than $174,000 per year. The idea is to tax well-resourced companies that pay high salaries — namely, Amazon.