Brian O'Neill: The house tends to win at casino Amazon
Seattle has a homeless problem, exacerbated by 40,000 more Amazon workers in the past eight years driving up the cost of living. Seattle City Council is considering a bill to impose ahead tax on companies with more than $20 million in annual revenue. That would apply to an estimated 585 businesses and cost each up to $500 per employee per year in its first phase, with the revenue going to housing and homeless services.
To which the biggest company in Seattle has just said, you know what, no
Amazon halted planning of a 17-story tower on its corporate campus, and hinted it might sublease a downtown skyscraper, still under construction, that it had previously leased. What it does next depends on whether the city pursues this head tax, an Amazon exec explained.
That was meant as a message not just to Seattle, but to the 20 finalists busily courting Amazon for HQ
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/brian-oneill/2018/05/10/The-house-tends-to-win-at-casino-Amazon/stories/201805100017
