Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda’s (Position 8, Citywide) JumpStart Seattle legislation received endorsements by nearly sixty organizations representing a broad coalition of labor, housing, faith, immigrant rights and community resiliency who are supportive of the progressive revenue proposal co-sponsored by Councilmembers González, Herbold, Strauss and Lewis.
The letter of support stated, “We write to you today in strong support of Jumpstart Seattle. It’s time to act, and act now. Our city and state are facing two related threats. One is a public health crisis, the other is a catastrophic economic crisis at a scale unprecedented since the Great Depression. Both have had and will continue to have a grossly disproportionate impact on Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities and people of color.”
The JumpStart Seattle progressive revenue proposal responds to the immediate COVID crisis and focuses on Seattle’s long-term economic revitalization and resiliency by investing in affordable housing and essential city services by implementing a progressive-tiered payroll tax on the largest corporations in Seattle. The JumpStart Seattle Spend Plan narrative detail is linked here.
“The diverse list of organizations endorsing the JumpStart proposal recognizes that both small business recovery and worker recovery are symbiotic — for businesses to survive, they need people in our communities to have enough money in their pockets to be customers. In order to escape this destructive economic spiral, we must act with urgency to address the public health crisis and the catastrophic economic crisis facing those who are far too often left on the margins by trickle down policies. JumpStart Seattle allows for us to re-invest in and re-create a more equitable economy for all,” said Mosqueda.
With the revenue raised by the JumpStart Seattle progressive revenue proposal, the 2020 and 2021 spending will immediately address the COVID -19 crisis by investing in housing security, such as rental assistance programs and resources for non-profit affordable housing providers; our homelessness crisis, including further de-intensifying our shelters; food security through the city’s grocery voucher program; flexible cash assistance to support small businesses as they seek to open their doors again; and investments in core services to support working families and our most vulnerable. In 2022 and the following years, the plan focuses on building deeply affordable housing, and investing in the economic resiliency and recovery of small businesses.
The JumpStart revenue legislation will be considered and voted on as part of the Select Budget Committee on Wednesday July 1st with a possible vote by the full Council on July 6th with more to come in the following week on the details of the spending. The legislation was launched on Tuesday, June 16, 2020 after months of engagement with diverse stakeholders to advance progressive revenue in Seattle.