Seattle mayor expresses concern about city tax revenue loss due to remote work
Tech companies are looking beyond Seattle for new office space, and the pandemic is enabling more employers to allow remote work. Both trends are concerning for government leaders in the Emerald City.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, speaking at the opening session of the GeekWire Summit on Thursday, said he was worried about the impact of people working at home on the city’s retail businesses and potential loss of tax revenue.
“I’m trying to encourage employers to get folks back, develop the energy and synergy that we need,” Harrell said. “But the fact of the matter is, there will never be the good ‘ol days where everyone’s downtown working.”
Harrell’s 2023-2024 budget proposal, released last week, said the tech sector “continued to be a driving force behind the growth of the regional economy,” specifically citing the headquarters of Amazon and Microsoft in the region, as well as engineering offices for Apple, Google (Alphabet) and Facebook (Meta).
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/seattle-mayor-expresses-concern-about-city-tax-revenue-loss-due-to-remote-work/ar-AA12GfjF