Seattle Passes Head Tax on Large Employers—Amazon Threatens Expansion Halt, Washington Post Editorial Aligns with Owner's Interests

Seattle’s City Council unanimously passed a “head tax” on large employers on May 14, 2018, taxing companies earning $20 million+ annually at $275 per full-time employee to fund affordable housing and homeless services. Amazon—with 45,000 Seattle employees and facing a $12 million annual tax bill—immediately threatened to halt expansion plans and funded a campaign to repeal the tax. The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, published editorials opposing the head tax and similar measures, demonstrating how billionaire media ownership aligns editorial positions with owner’s financial interests even on local tax issues.

The Seattle Head Tax

Seattle faced a homelessness crisis, with 8,522 documented homeless individuals in 2017 and regional counts reaching 12,000. The problem grew by 4% annually despite the city spending $68 million on homelessness initiatives. The City Council proposed a “head tax” to generate additional revenue:

Original Proposal:

• Tax: $500 per full-time employee annually
• Target: Companies with gross revenue above $20 million
• Projected revenue: $75 million annually
• Affected businesses: Roughly 585 companies (about 3% of Seattle employers)

Final Compromise (Passed May 14):

• Tax: $275 per full-time employee annually
• Projected revenue: $47 million annually
• Duration: 5 years
• Mayor Jenny Durkan signed it into law despite threatening to veto the original $500 proposal

Amazon’s Impact: With 45,000 Seattle employees, Amazon would pay approximately $12.4 million annually under the $275 tax—less than 0.001% of the company’s 2017 revenue of $177.9 billion.

Amazon’s Aggressive Opposition

Amazon responded to the tax with immediate threats and political mobilization:

Construction Halt: When the original $500 proposal was announced, Amazon temporarily halted construction on a downtown tower and threatened to suspend major expansion plans. CEO Jeff Bezos—worth $112 billion at the time—personally led the opposition.

Political Spending:

• Amazon contributed $25,000 to the “No Tax on Jobs” referendum campaign seeking to repeal the tax
• Starbucks and other large employers joined the opposition
• The campaign characterized the tax as “anti-business” and harmful to job creation

Public Messaging: Amazon framed the head tax as:

• A jobs tax that would hurt employment
• Inefficient government spending on homelessness
• A solution that wouldn’t address the root causes
• Bad for Seattle’s business climate

The Contradiction: Amazon’s position was that:

• $12 million was an unacceptable burden on a company with $5.6 billion in 2017 profits
• The same company paying zero federal income tax deserved to avoid all local taxes to address crises it helped create through rising housing costs

The Repeal: Corporate Power Wins

Less than a month after unanimously passing the head tax, the Seattle City Council voted 7-2 to repeal it on June 12, 2018:

The Political Dynamics: Council member Lisa Herbold explained her vote to repeal despite opposing it personally: “unlimited resources” opposed the measure and “we don’t have the time and we don’t have the resources necessary to change enough minds.”

Amazon’s Victory Statement: Amazon characterized the repeal as “the right decision for the region’s economic prosperity”—framing the company’s tax avoidance as serving the public interest.

The Democratic Failure: The repeal demonstrated that:

• A unanimous City Council lacked political will to sustain popular policy
• Corporate threats to halt expansion trumped democratic process
• No amount of public support could overcome corporate opposition
• Local governments could not tax large corporations even modestly without retaliation

Washington Post Editorial Coverage: Owner’s Interests

The Washington Post—owned by Jeff Bezos since 2013—published editorial content on the Seattle head tax and related issues that aligned with Bezos’s financial interests:

September 2018 Editorial: An opinion piece titled “Tax Bezos. Help workers. But not like this.” acknowledged:

• “By all means, let’s raise the living standards of workers at Amazon, Walmart, McDonald’s and other employers of low-wage Americans”
• “And, by all means, let’s raise Jeffrey P. Bezos’s taxes, too”
• “The founder of Amazon (and owner of The Post) is the wealthiest man in the world”

But then opposed the head tax approach:

• Criticized Seattle’s head tax as inefficient
• Argued for federal-level solutions rather than local taxes
• Framed employer taxes as counterproductive

The Disclosure: The Post disclosed Bezos’s ownership and wealth, noting “Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.” However:

• Disclosure appeared as a parenthetical, not as a framing issue
• The editorial opposed local taxes that would affect Bezos financially
• No examination of Bezos’s lobbying against such taxes
• No investigation of Amazon’s $25,000 contribution to repeal campaign

The Pattern: Post editorials on tax policy consistently:

• Acknowledged inequality and need for higher taxes on the wealthy (in principle)
• Opposed specific mechanisms that would actually tax Bezos or Amazon
• Framed local and state tax efforts as inefficient or counterproductive
• Advocated for federal solutions (where Amazon’s lobbying power was greatest)

The Structural Conflict

The Seattle head tax controversy revealed the structural conflicts created by Bezos’s ownership of the Washington Post:

Editorial Independence Claims: The Post maintained strict separation between ownership and editorial content. But:

• Editorial positions consistently aligned with Bezos’s financial interests
• Coverage framed Amazon’s opposition as legitimate business concern
• Post editorials opposed taxes on large employers using similar logic to Amazon’s lobbying
• No investigative focus on Amazon’s political spending to defeat the tax

What the Post Didn’t Investigate:

• Bezos’s personal role in directing Amazon’s opposition to the tax
• Amazon’s $25,000 contribution to the repeal campaign
• The broader pattern of Amazon threatening cities that attempt to tax it
• Comparison of Amazon’s political spending to its tax obligations
• The democratic accountability crisis when corporations can veto modest taxes

What the Post Did Cover:

• Policy debates about homelessness solutions
• Arguments for and against the head tax approach
• Seattle’s business climate and economic development
• Amazon as a major employer and economic driver

The Omission: The Post treated the head tax as a policy dispute rather than as a demonstration of corporate power overriding democratic process. The newspaper owned by the world’s richest person did not systematically investigate how billionaire wealth translates into political power that blocks taxation.

Significance: Media Capture Demonstrated

The Seattle head tax episode provided empirical evidence of how billionaire media ownership shapes coverage:

Direct Financial Interest:

• Seattle head tax would cost Bezos-owned Amazon $12 million annually
• Post editorial opposed the head tax approach
• Post coverage emphasized Amazon’s perspective and business concerns
• Limited investigation of Amazon’s political mobilization

The Alignment: Post editorial positions on taxation aligned with Bezos’s interests:

• Opposition to local/state tax increases on large employers
• Support for federal solutions (where lobbying power is concentrated)
• Framing of business taxes as economically harmful
• Emphasis on government inefficiency rather than tax avoidance

The Defense: Post journalists could point to disclosure and argue for editorial independence. But:

• Structural bias doesn’t require direct interference
• Ownership shapes which stories get resources and prominence
• Editorial alignment with owner interests can occur through selection effects
• The absence of investigation is as important as presence of coverage

The Broader Pattern

The Seattle head tax episode fit a broader pattern of Amazon wielding political power to block modest taxation:

Economic Leverage: Amazon used its size and importance to cities’ economies as leverage:

• Threats to halt expansion plans
• Warnings about job losses and business climate
• Political spending to defeat tax measures
• Public messaging framing corporate interests as public interests

The HQ2 Connection: The Seattle head tax battle occurred months before the November 2018 HQ2 announcement. Amazon’s aggressive response to Seattle’s modest tax sent a message to cities competing for HQ2:

• Don’t attempt to tax Amazon
• Corporate threats are credible
• Amazon will mobilize politically against tax increases
• Business climate (meaning tax avoidance) is a key criterion

Media Amplification: The Washington Post’s editorial stance amplified Amazon’s messaging:

• Legitimate newspaper criticized “inefficient” head taxes
• Bezos could point to independent editorial judgment
• But editorial positions served Bezos’s financial interests
• Created intellectual cover for corporate tax avoidance

The Democratic Failure

The Seattle head tax episode demonstrated multiple failures of democratic accountability:

Local Government Impotence: A unanimous City Council couldn’t sustain a modest tax against corporate opposition, revealing:

• Corporate veto power over local taxation
• Political threats more powerful than public support
• Inability of elected officials to counter concentrated wealth

Media Capture: The newspaper owned by the tax opponent published editorials opposing the tax:

• Appearance of independent analysis
• Actual alignment with owner’s financial interests
• No systematic investigation of owner’s political mobilization
• Framing that naturalized corporate power

Federal Complicity: Amazon paid zero federal income tax in 2017 and 2018 while:

• Defeating local tax efforts
• Extracting billions in state and local subsidies
• Wielding federal contracts as political leverage
• Lobbying for favorable federal tax treatment

The Irony

The same year Amazon defeated Seattle’s head tax (2018):

• Amazon paid zero federal income tax on $11.2 billion in profits
• Amazon received $129 million in federal tax rebates
• Bezos became the world’s first person worth over $150 billion
• 238 cities competed to offer Amazon billions in subsidies for HQ2

Seattle’s attempt to collect $12 million annually from Amazon to address homelessness—homelessness partly caused by Amazon-driven housing cost increases—was defeated by the same corporate and political power that enabled billions in tax avoidance and subsidy extraction.

The Washington Post published editorials stating “Democracy Dies in Darkness” while opposing local democratic efforts to modestly tax its owner’s company. The slogan proved prophetic: democracy died in the full light of day, killed by billionaire-owned media institutions that framed corporate tax avoidance as economic wisdom and democratic taxation as government overreach.