Judge strikes down lawsuit that sought to overturn Seattle big business tax
A King County judge struck down a lawsuit filed by the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, which had sought to overturn Seattle’s big business “Jump Start” tax.
The tax was passed city councilmembers in July of 2020, levying a tax on corporations with payrolls over $7 million. Under the measure, qualifying businesses are taxed 0.7% for every employee making over $150,000, and 1.4% for employees making over $500,000.
The Chamber of Commerce alleged in its lawsuit that the tax violated the Washington state Constitution, and that it conflicted with the right of state residents to earn a living wage.
In practice, the JumpStart tax is levied directly on qualifying businesses, and does not come out of employee salaries. That proved to be key to the judge’s ruling, who noted in her ruling that cities have broad authority to tax business entities.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/judge-strikes-down-lawsuit-that-sought-to-overturn-seattle-big-business-tax/ar-AAKK1rv
= new reply since forum marked as read
