A few years ago the City of Seattle put a payroll expense tax in place that applied to businesses that met a certain revenue threshold. As usual, bureaucrats and politicians got out their calculators to add up how much more revenue the city would haul in as a result without taking into account other factors.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell released his payroll expense tax (PET) report for 2024 Tuesday, and its projections came up nearly $50 million short.
“Today’s announcement that PET revenues collected in 2024 were $47 million lower than projected requires action to ensure our budget remains balanced,” Harrell explained in a statement.
Harrell said that his 2025 budget proposal was based on the projections from the independent Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts. But since they got it wrong, the mayor said for the 2026 budget, “my office will consider all options, including additional revenue sources and appropriate expense reductions, to ensure we are making the priority investments and funding the essential services that matter to our residents.”
In 2024, city revenues were reportedly $47 million lower than the progressive geniuses expected, which caused the Seattle mayor to make it at least partly about Trump (as spotted by @JasonRantz):
There’s something funny about trying to turn your screw-up into a controversy about Trump. This is catastrophic! Seattle collected $47m fewer dollars from revenue than they thought — while already facing a deficit. pic.twitter.com/llYsul7E7s
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) March 25, 2025
Well, city officials were either going to blame Trump or climate change. They went with Trump this time.
These people couldn't be more predictable:
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Today, Mayor Bruce Harrell released the following statement after the Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts (OERF) released the 2024 Year-end Revenue Report:
“Today’s announcement that PET revenues collected in 2024 were $47 million lower than projected requires action to ensure our budget remains balanced. We also know this news only adds to significant negative impacts for future years when combined with President Trump’s actions to rescind grants to our city, implement harmful tariffs, and focus on failed economic policies that prioritize the wealthy over working families.
When new taxes like this are put into place the politicians who supported them refuse to account for what might happen next:
What people haven’t realized yet—but soon will—is that the sharp drop in payroll expense tax revenue means jobs are leaving Seattle. The whole point of the PET was to squeeze “free” money out of businesses because the city arrogantly assumed it held all the cards.
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) March 26, 2025
But what did…
Mayor Harrell acknowledges that big businesses are leaving. But the he offers a strategically naïve statement: "Large corporations should pay their fair share and we should be wary when they use job placements to avoid paying funding that our communities rely on, but we also must…
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) March 26, 2025
Ah yes, the old "they won't pay their fair share" excuse.
We warned you, Seattle. You didn’t listen. https://t.co/UunXwlEyYF
— FugitiveMama (@fugitivemama) March 26, 2025
It doesn't seem that they'll ever learn.
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