What an idiot:

“Seattle should serve everyone, not just rich folks,” software developer Carissa Knipe told the council before the 9-0 vote, saying she makes more than $170,000 per year.

“I would love to be taxed,” the 24-year-old from Ballard testified, drawing applause from a room packed with supporters of the tax."

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"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

I was thinking the same thing. Why not take that extra money she's dying to give away and do something charitable or tangible in her city or community? Why turn your dollar in to a dime by passing it through the government?

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Long Chile was a silly place.

without even looking at the story, i'll go straight to your comment.

i agree about halfway - a lot of people claim that they'd be happy to be taxed more while not opening their wallets for charity. on the other hand, there are a lot of things that charity can't do in place of government, like building infrastructure or exploiting economies of scale for purchasing. in canada, charities also can't do primary health care, and generally don't do education either.

my folks used to serve dinner at a soup kitchen. it's a great way to put meals in needy peoples' bellies right away, but it takes a higher-level plan to sort things like education, welfare/work fare, rehab, addition programs, and so on.

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

“I would love to be taxed,” the 24-year-old from Ballard testified, drawing applause from a room packed with supporters of the tax."

Wealthy people say that all the time but they are the first ones to hire tax accountants and lawyers to minimize their tax. If she really wanted to contribute more to the government, she could write a check any day but that isn't going to happen.

But this is a tax strictly on Seattle residents - not state or federal. This money won't be going to big ticket,grand items like education or healthcare, I believe, correct?

I believe a lot of the social programs needed, at least here in Victoria (and maybe similarly in nearby Seattle) are precisely the type that can be implimented on a smaller, more local and focused scale. Not to derail this thread but What does Ottawa know about our homelessness issue? Hell, it took the provincial government over a year to sort out our tent city fiasco (cliff notes: a few homeless people started camping on provincial courthouse lawn, local authorities unable to enforce 'no camping' rule applied to city parks. Tent city grew in to a packed tent slum complete with problems of crime, sanitation, drugs, harrassment of nearby residents. Took province over a year to clear the park, which then needed around $300k of remediation.)

If my municipality pulled a stunt like this tax, I would, without doubt, move to a neighbouring municipality, or find ways to reduce my income to stay under the threshold (assuming, one day, my business grows enough to give me the problem of having to make it appear as though I'm not earning a quarter million dollars a year ;) ).

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Don't you need to make $250,000/$500,000 to even own a home in Seattle?

Wife and I just visited Mt Rainier, and driving through parts of Seattle we jokingly came to the conclusion that there are no nice houses there because everyone's money is in their mortgage and can't upkeep their homes.

Interesting that the article says state law does not allow cities to tax income. All of the potential earned revenue will probably be lost in court fees.

And probably a liar. Do 24 year old (just out of college) software developers really start off making that much?

Amen. She could do a lot more by directly contributing to a cause vs. paying more taxes.

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"The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."

Yep. My daughter lives in Seattle. She has a good job in a private equity firm. Here, in WI, she could buy a nice little house. In Seattle, she has given up any hopes of ever owning a house (within the city limits). She and the boyfriend make good money and realize that, if/when they buy a house, it will be a long way from the city. Even then, they will only get a fraction of the house they could get here.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

They sure can.

It is possible, but she may have exaggerated a bit. Microsoft is one of the best paying companies (for software designers) in the Seattle area. Their salaries are a bit below this, but they do have some positions starting at $120k.

https://www.glassdoor.com/....10,17_IC1150499.htm

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

Huh, good to know!

The benefit they have is a 2 hour drive they are in beautiful mountains. As for me, 2 hours any direction I'm still swimming in cornfields.

To me, it almost smells of slack-tivism on her behalf. She has disposal income she doesn't really need (young, assuming not married or kids, etc) and wants to "do something" to "help people" without really doing anything. It's definitely a step above hitting like on Facebook, but at the end of the day all she's saying is "I'm willing to give up something I don't really need anyways". Which is fine. But don't force everyone to make that same decision. What if the tax was an amount that would effect her lifestyle or force her to make changes she didn't really want to make? Would she still want to pay more?

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Long Chile was a silly place.

It's not even that. She's willing to give up something that she knows won't be taken.

She's very brave.

It's like when I am playing hockey and get really lippy when I know I have the biggest guy on my team separating me from the guy on the other team that wants to kill me.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

So what you're saying is that this is a very expensive exercise in virtue signalling?

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Swim. Overbike. Walk.