Seattle council, mayor cave to Amazon, other opposition on head tax for homelessness 
 
 Supporters and detractors of the "head tax" hold signs in council chambers during a City Council vote to repeal the tax on big businesses, which was voted for unanimously last month, Tuesday, June 12, 2018. Council voted 7-2 to repeal the tax. less Supporters and detractors of the "head tax" hold signs in council chambers during a City Council vote to repeal the tax on big businesses, which was voted for unanimously last month, Tuesday, June 12, 2018. ... more Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 28 Caption Close Seattle council, mayor cave to Amazon, other opposition on head tax for homelessness 1 / 28 Back to Gallery 
 
 Seattle's city council on Tuesday rolled back its so-called "head tax" on big businesses to fund homeless services, less than a month after it unanimously approved the compromise deal. 
 
 The tax would have collected about $275 per head on employees at businesses with more than $20 million in annual revenue, raising roughly $48 million a year for housing and other services for the city's booming homeless population. By the latest count, King County was home to more than 12,000 people experiencing homelessness, most of them in Seattle. 
 
 "We have reached the conclusion that this is not a winnable battle at this time," Councilwoman Lisa Herbold said before the vote. "I am not someone who walks away from what looks like a losing fight, but ... there is so much more to lose between today and November." 
 
 Pressure from Amazon had already cut the original tax nearly in half, but then the company joined Starbucks and others in backing a campaign to put the tax to a referendum vote this fall. The No Head Tax campaign had raised more than $285,000 through the end of May, according to filings with the city. 
 
 RELATED: Seattle council approves smaller $48 million head tax for homelessness 
 
 On Monday, the council and Mayor Jenny Durkan formally caved to the opposition, announcing Tuesday's special meeting and indicating they would largely support repeal. 
 
 Against the din of protesters chanting in city council chambers, the council struggled to complete its vote on the measure, with Councilwoman Kshama Sawant holding out her vote until the crowd acknowledged the vote was happening behind them. The final tally was seven in favor, with just Sawant and Councilwoman Teresa Mosqueda dissenting. 
 
 The decision to repeal the tax was blamed on the bottomless coffers of the opposition, a nod to Amazon's stunning wealth, and thus, influence in local politics. 
 
 "I have been unable to find a way forward that we could out-fund and out-resource the opposition campaign by November," said Councilwoman Lorena Gonzalez ahead of the vote. "Money has funded this campaign that put us in a position where we have to repeal this law." 
 
 During public comment on Tuesday, which ran 50 minutes before the council considered the measure, many called the moved to repeal with such little notice a "betrayal" and a "backroom deal" that put corporate interests above people. 
 
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 "I wonder about the homeless state of emergency, I wonder if it's just that here we are in the city of Seattle paying lip service to a state of emergency but we're not actually fixing anything," said Matthew Lang, with the Hope Coalition. 
 
 In a statement from seven members of the council and Durkan on Monday, they argued that the political fight to keep the tax would prove too costly and wouldn't help the homelessness crisis. Instead, they pointed to a need for the city to find a solution everyone could agree on. 
 
 During comments before the vote Sawant pushed back on the idea that the council would come out ahead in backing down on the issue so soon. 
 
 "Do council members actually believe that by completely capitulating to big business today, that somehow we'll be in a better position to win this next year?" she asked. 
 
 Gonzalez ultimately backed the repeal effort, but hedged her support in a statement Monday. 
 
 "I am deeply troubled and disappointed by the political tactics utilized by a powerful faction of corporations that seem to prioritize corporations over people," she wrote in Monday's statement. 
 
 Opponents to the tax have argued that the city hasn't properly handled the money it already has for dealing with the homelessness crisis, something that was officially declared a city emergency in November 2015 by then-mayor Ed Murray. 
 
 Seattle has doubled its spending on homeless services in the last few years, with $63 million earmarked for the crisis in 2018. Countywide, about $195 million was spent in 2017, according to a Seattle Times analysis of funds that included state and federal sources. By comparison, San Francisco, where around 10,000 people are living without stable housing, will spend about $305 million this year on the crisis. 
 
 Durkan recently said the city would launch a website detailing how it spends its homelessness funding, but the site hasn't appeared yet. Credit rating company Moody's gives Seattle an Aa2 credit rating, the third-highest rating, and found the head tax to be a credit positive move, while it warned of the impact Amazon may have on the local government of its HQ2 city, wherever that will be. 
 
 Amazon had a big influence over what the head tax that did pass looked like. After the original proposal was released, the e-commerce company halted planning on two tower projects in Seattle pending a vote on the deal. Durkan struck a compromise deal that was just over half the original amount of the tax in response, a deal that Amazon approved enough to resume work on its tower projects. 
 
 RELATED: Report: Amazon halts planning for new Seattle towers over head tax 
 
 Neither council members or Mayor Durkan had offered up alternatives to generate the same funding that was expected from the head tax. 
 
 Senior editor Daniel DeMay covers Seattle culture, city hall, and transportation for seattlepi.com. He can be reached at 206-448-8362 or danieldemay@seattlepi.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Daniel_DeMay. ||||| Seattle Repeals Tax On Big Business After Opposition From Amazon, Starbucks 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Ted S. Warren/AP Ted S. Warren/AP 
 
 In a victory for Amazon, the Seattle City Council voted to repeal a tax on the city's biggest businesses Tuesday, a measure designed to fund efforts to combat Seattle's large homeless population. 
 
 In a meeting punctured with shouting from activists, council members voted 7-2 to repeal the so-called "head tax," which would have raised about $47 million per year to fund affordable housing projects and to help the city's homeless population. 
 
 It was a sharp reversal from just last month, when the council voted unanimously to pass the tax and the city's mayor signed it into law. 
 
 Amazon, Starbucks and other companies then funded a campaign against the tax and to put it on a referendum to voters in November. 
 
 Council member Lisa Herbold said the groups opposing the tax had "unlimited resources" and that her vote to repeal was "counter to my values as a person." 
 
 However, a campaign from business groups including the Chamber of Commerce had convinced most Seattle residents to oppose the tax and "we don't have the time and we don't have the resources necessary to change enough minds," Herbold said. 
 
 "This is not a winnable battle at this time," she added. 
 
 Seattle's government said the tax would only affect about 3 percent of the city's employers — those grossing at least $20 million each year. About 585 employers would have paid about $275 per employee per year, according to the city council. 
 
 Amazon has about 45,000 employees in Seattle and is the city's largest private employer. It would have paid about $12 million per year. 
 
 Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos was named the world's richest man by Forbes in March, with a worth of $112 billion. 
 
 The company said the vote "to repeal the tax on job creation is the right decision for the region's economic prosperity." 
 
 Amazon, Starbucks and investment company Vulcan each paid $25,000 toward the referendum effort, KUOW reports. The No Tax on Jobs campaign raised $350,000. 
 
 After the session to consider repealing the law was announced a day earlier, Seattle's Chamber of Commerce said it was a "breath of fresh air." The Chamber echoed language from Amazon that it was a "tax on jobs." 
 
 "From day one, the Seattle Metro Chamber has been clear that a tax on jobs is not the way to address the regional homelessness crisis," President and CEO Marilyn Strickland said in a statement Monday. 
 
 The law passed in May was itself a watered-down version of the original plan, to tax companies $500 per employee. Amazon temporarily halted construction of a tower in downtown Seattle in opposition. 
 
 Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said she would sign the repeal into law. "Instead of engaging in a prolonged, expensive political fight, the City and I will continue to move forward on building real partnerships that align our strategies from business, advocates, philanthropy," she said in a statement. 
 
 Council members Teresa Mosqueda and Kshama Sawant both voted against the repeal. Sawant called it a "cowardly betrayal of the needs of working people," saying it was "capitulation and it's a betrayal." 
 
 Critics of the tax reportedly saw the city's homeless problem growing, despite large amounts of spending by the city already. Seattle spent $68 million on fighting homelessness in 2017, according to The Associated Press. 
 
 The city council said 8,522 people were counted as "experiencing homelessness" in Seattle in 2017. Including nearby areas, that number went up to 12,000 during a one-night count in January, the AP says, which is up 4 percent from the year before. The wire service says 169 homeless people died in 2017. 
 
 KUOW reports that the characterization of the tax as "extra money for homelessness ... wasn't necessarily an accurate representation." 
 
 "It's possible the money wouldn't have been extra: It could have plugged a future hole in the budget instead. Seattle had already been spending money from its construction boom on homelessness. With a depleted general fund projected to sink into the red, the city needed to find money just to stay afloat." 
 
 "I'm very supportive of the homeless," small business owner Claudia Campanile told the station. "But I am not supportive of the constituency getting taxed with no representation and no clear game plan of what they're going to do with the funds." 
 
 The mayor seemed to address that concern in her statement Tuesday, saying, "people deserve to know how their money is being spent and what is working. The City has worked towards increased accountability and transparency with taxpayer dollars expected to be spent on the homelessness crisis." 
 
 Cities across the country are competing to host Amazon's proposed second headquarters. The company says it would create 50,000 jobs and would invest $5 billion in the city it chooses — leading some competing for the headquarters to promise billions in tax breaks for the corporate behemoth. ||||| Supporters at left of a tax on large companies such as Amazon and Starbucks that was intended to combat a growing homelessness crisis stand in Seattle City Council Chambers and face off against people... (Associated Press) 
 
 Supporters at left of a tax on large companies such as Amazon and Starbucks that was intended to combat a growing homelessness crisis stand in Seattle City Council Chambers and face off against people at right supporting the repeal of the tax, Tuesday, June 12, 2018, at City Hall in Seattle. Seattle... (Associated Press) 
 
 SEATTLE (AP) — A tax on large companies such as Amazon that was meant to fight a growing homelessness crisis got rolled back during a raucous Seattle City Council meeting that exposed divisions over how much companies that have fueled booming economies should help pay to alleviate the downsides of success. 
 
 A divided crowd chanted, jeered and booed at the meeting, drowning out city leaders as they cast a 7-2 vote Tuesday. People shouted, "Stop the repeal," as others unfurled a large red banner that read, "Tax Amazon." An opposing group held "No tax on jobs" signs. 
 
 The vote showed Amazon's ability to aggressively push back on government taxes, especially in its affluent hometown where it's the largest employer with more than 45,000 workers and where it has been criticized for contributing to a widening income gap. 
 
 It remains to be seen whether Seattle's retreat will have a chilling effect on other cities considering taxes on big tech companies to help mitigate the effects of growth. 
 
 The City Council in Mountain View, California, where Google is based, will vote June 26 on whether to put a similar measure before voters in November. The "Google tax," which has unanimous support from the council, aims to alleviate transportation woes and high housing costs in the Silicon Valley city south of San Francisco. 
 
 Mountain View Mayor Lenny Siegel said Seattle's about-face hasn't changed his support for the tax, the details of which the council and city administrators have been working on for several months. 
 
 "It appears that we have a better relationship with our business than Seattle does," Siegel said. 
 
 He said Google hasn't taken a position on the proposal and that no "groundswell" of opposition has materialized from the Internet search giant and other companies. 
 
 "That doesn't mean they support it," Siegel said. "Our chamber of commerce has not been excited by it." 
 
 In Seattle, the tax was proposed as a progressive revenue source aimed at tackling one of the nation's highest homelessness numbers, a problem that hasn't eased even as city spending on the issue grew. 
 
 Businesses and residents demanded more accountability in how Seattle funds homelessness and housing and said the city should take a regional approach to the problem. Many worried that Amazon and others would leave the city as the companies sharply criticized the tax. 
 
 Amazon called Tuesday's vote "the right decision for the region's economic prosperity." 
 
 The company is "deeply committed to being part of the solution to end homelessness in Seattle," Drew Herdener, an Amazon vice president, said in a statement. 
 
 City leaders underestimated the frustration and anger from residents, businesses and others over not just a tax increase but also a growing sense that homelessness appears to have gotten worse, not better, despite Seattle spending millions to fight it. 
 
 It poured $68 million into the effort last year and plans to spend more this year. The tax would have raised roughly $48 million annually. 
 
 But a one-night count in January found more than 12,000 homeless people in the Seattle and surrounding region, a 4 percent increase from the previous year. The region saw 169 homeless deaths last year. 
 
 Many supporters called the repeal a betrayal and said the tax was a step toward building badly needed affordable housing. They booed council members, imploring them to keep it and fight a coalition of businesses trying to get a referendum overturning the tax on the November ballot. 
 
 "It's frustrating to see the council be so spineless when the city has so much leverage for businesses to come here despite the tax," said Jake Lindsay, 25, a musician and Lyft driver who supported the tax. 
 
 Several council members, including three who sponsored the legislation but voted to repeal it, lamented the reversal and conceded they didn't have the resources or time to fight the referendum. 
 
 Councilwoman Lisa Herbold said it "was truly our best option" and that she repealed it with a heavy heart. She lashed out at business interests for blaming the problems on government inefficiencies. 
 
 Seattle's so-called head tax would have charged companies about $275 per full-time worker each year for affordable housing and homeless services. It targeted nearly 600 businesses making at least $20 million in gross revenue and would have taken effect next year. 
 
 Days after it passed, the business-backed No Tax On Jobs campaign began gathering signatures for the ballot and raised more than $280,000 in cash contributions in just weeks. 
 
 In Silicon Valley, Siegel, the Mountain View mayor, said Google and other companies such as LinkedIn that are based in the California city acknowledge that soaring housing costs and long commutes make it harder to recruit and retain workers. 
 
 He said city officials estimate the tax would raise about $10 million annually once it's completely phased in after three years. Google is expected to pay half. 
 
 Siegel said public meetings that touched on the issue were "moderately" attended, and the proposal does not appear to be as contentious in Mountain View as in Seattle. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press reporter Paul Elias in San Francisco contributed to this report.
– What does defeat sound like? This: "We have reached the conclusion that this is not a winnable battle at this time." That was the pronouncement of Seattle Councilwoman Lisa Herbold Tuesday in advance of what ended up being a 7-2 vote to reverse a new tax the council had unanimously approved only a month prior. The so-called "head tax" would have generated just shy of $50 million annually to put toward homelessness and affordable housing by charging businesses that generate more than $20 million in revenue a year about $275 per employee. That would have hit about 3% of businesses in the city, one of which is Amazon, which would have contributed about 25% of the expected total, reports NPR. The company was vocal in its opposition. And per SeattlePI.com, the "stunning wealth" of Amazon, Starbucks, and the rest of the opposition drove the reversal. As Councilwoman Lorena Gonzalez explains, "I have been unable to find a way forward that we could out-fund and out-resource the opposition campaign by November" (the opposition was campaigning for a referendum on the tax in the fall). "Money has funded this campaign that put us in a position where we have to repeal this law." The AP characterizes city leaders as having "underestimated the frustration" over not just the tax but the fact that while $68 million was spent on homelessness last year, a January count found the homeless population in the Seattle area up 4%, to 12,000, suggesting to some that the city's current resources weren't being used appropriately.