This is what oligarchy looks like. [View all]

[Uncle Joe]

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Amazon Led a Tax Rebellion. A Year Later, Seattle Is Gridlocked

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Then Dilip Wagle started talking. The senior partner at McKinsey & Co. had written a report saying the city needed to double its spending to provide the roughly 14,000 additional homes needed for people who couldn’t keep a roof over their heads. Philanthropy wasn’t enough, he said, according to attendees of the November function. A lot more money was needed.

The exchange underscored an impasse that’s persisted in Seattle a year after Amazon.com Inc. and other companies beat back a city effort to raise money for homeless services through a tax on large employers. The lobbying win has left the campaign to help one of the country’s biggest homeless populations in limbo, with a patchwork of philanthropic offerings rather than a comprehensive effort to address the issue.

Many businesses argue that the solution to the challenge isn’t more government spending; it’s government spending more efficiently. Local officials, meanwhile, have failed to articulate a clear plan, while facing a regressive tax system that limits how new funds can be raised. That’s led to a divide that’s left little room for action.

“It’s all stalled,” said Daniel Malone, executive director of the Downtown Emergency Service Center, which provides supportive housing, health and employment aid. Not only did the tax fail, “but I think the fight has kind of stalled out, even the conversations on where to go forward.”

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-09/after-amazon-led-tax-rebellion-seattle-s-homeless-aid-stalls