An Open Letter to the Business Leaders Who Wrote an Open Letter on the Head Tax
Exactly one year ago, CEOs and business leaders from the Seattle area signed an open letter arguing against a head tax. They said they’d work to solve the city’s housing crisis. How’s that going?
Dear Seattle tech and business leaders:
Exactly one year ago today, you published a post here on Medium protesting a proposed head tax on large employers. You claimed in the open letter that you wanted to work with Seattle officials to solve our housing crisis.
How’s that working out?
Has your brain trust of business leaders come together to create an abundance of affordable housing yet? I haven’t seen any progress, but maybe it already happened and I missed it somehow.
You basically claimed taxes wouldn’t solve the problem, and that you could fix everything through the Power of Free Markets and your Big Business Brains. So what have you done? It’s been exactly one year — show your work!
You wrote “It will take collaboration and dialogue to come up with innovative solutions to maintain a thriving economy in our wonderful city.” How’s that going? Any innovative solutions, one year later?
Because if you haven’t worked in good faith toward finding a solution to the massive scale of Seattle’s housing crisis, that open letter you published might be considered in retrospect to be a sleazy stalling tactic. And that can’t be right, can it?
Can it?
Your leaders specifically fought a head tax last year by claiming you’d work to fix our housing crisis. How’s it going? What have you genius one-percenter tech overlords done, in your infinite wisdom, to house the homeless and to ease the tremendous housing inequality in the Seattle region?
Because I’ll tell you right now: it looks like you’ve done nothing. Exactly one year out, to me you look like a bunch of hypocrites who will say anything to avoid paying your fair share.
Will you at least do me one favor? Will you at least re-read this piece you signed your name to last year? And after you’ve read it, will you tell me if you feel any shame?
Because I think you really, really should.
Thanks for nothing!
Paul Constant
