Seattle City Council to Businesses and Residents: Screw You, Pay Me More.

Jim McMahan, of Seattle, holds a sign that reads "Stop the war on the poor! Tax Amazon!" Wednesday, May 9, 2018, as he attends a Seattle City Council committee meeting at City Hall in Seattle where public comment was heard on a controversial proposal to tax large businesses such as Amazon.com to fund efforts to combat homelessness. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

The Seattle city council strikes again. On the heels of passing a $275 per employee tax on businesses making over $20 million in the city to address the homeless problem, members have proposed another property tax increase…for the children, of course.

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The increase proposed by council members Rob Johnson and Lorena Gonzalez to send more children to preschool for free. Er — free for them. This increase is on top of an already 17 percent property tax increase from last year to fund Washington’s public education system.

But don’t worry, this “enhancement” — that’s what Gonzalez is calling the proposed extra tax — will surely yield high results for a reasonable cost.

Right?

Well, let’s look at the numbers for the program the council is wanting to bankroll further with taxpayer money.

Seattle voters already approved a $58 million levy in 2015 to provide 850 families with “affordable” or free preschool.

That’s $68,235 per family. For glorified daycare.

That is an outrageous number and indicative of just how bloated the city government spending is as well as just how expensive it has become to live in the Seattle area.

Thankfully, these constant tax increases are beginning to draw the ire of some Seattle residents and people are speaking out:

“It’s not just homelessness. It’s the bike lanes and budget overruns, the Bertha tunnel, and the overruns on that, the First Ave streetcar and overruns on that,” Seattle resident Matt Dubin said. Dubin is a local attorney now running to become a state lawmaker this year. He says he is upset over city leaders squeezing out the middle class. “It’s making it impossible for the middle class to live in Seattle. If we keep going down this road nobody will be able to live in Seattle except for the very rich and the homeless,” Dubin said.

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But the deaf city council thinks Seattle residents are too stupid to remember their anger in six months when the levy is on the ballot.

“It’s May; this is proposed to be on the ballot in November and a lot can change between now and November,” Johnson said.

What do you mean a lot can change?

“The angst and anger you guys are talking about today, May 21st, may not necessarily be the same as it is today in November,” Johnson said.

Unfortunately, Seattle shows little desire to change from the socialist road their proudly headed down.

And as my sister, who has lived in North Seattle for over a decade, commented when I posted this story on Facebook, “Even if it doesn’t pass they’ll just legislate it.”

Indeed. As we saw when the council attempted to break Washington state law and impose an income tax within the city earlier this year.

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