Seattle’s Amazon tax spurred by seething tensions, rising rents

(FILES) In this file photo taken on March 22, 2011 view of the skyline in the city of Seattle, Washington. The City Council in Seattle, home to Amazon, Starbucks and other major companies, has passed an ordinance that would tax businesses in a bid to fight homelessness. The legislation, passed on May 14, 2018, by a 9-0 vote, would impose an annual tax of $275 per full-time employee on companies with revenue of more than $20 million. / AFP PHOTO / Mark RALSTON

It was, as the local public radio station said, the day “Seattle Nice” died. On May 2, the residents of Seattle were hit with a one-two punch. 

For months, the city council had been debating a new tax on large employers to raise US$75mil (RM297.33mil) for new affordable housing and services for the homeless, whose growing population had burst out of shelters and into tents around the city.