Neat, another candidate whose campaign will get more democracy vouchers than votes.

‘…he’s into taxing the exorbitant profits that big companies make in Seattle.

‘“Big businesses benefit from us having a cleaner, safer city and they should actually be the ones to foot that bill,” Yusuf said.’

Yeah, from mid-2018 onwards, Sawant’s Amazon Tax really helped Seattle turn the corner on homelessness. No doubt this will do even better, given the State Supreme Court has been very clear income taxes are unconstitutional in Washington.

@1: What have you against Ace the Architect? ;-)

So what’s the method Yusuf will use to tax businesses (seems like a logical follow-up)? I oftentimes suspect progressives like Yusuf are unaware of, for example, the B&O tax (which taxes revenue).

I too wish there was a magical way to pay for all the things we want but unfortunately we’re limited to one form of taxation or another. Any candidate unable to clearly layout their approach is merely grifting from Seatllites (as @2 pointed out, see Ace as the worst example).

Saying that Seattle has a conservative council shows the depth of self-delusion The Stranger is in .

The lesson that the "progressive" candidates/council members need to learn is that being on a city council - and especially a district city council - means having to do more than just come up with ways to tax businesses and complain about zoning. They need to take care of their constituents. All the constituents, not just their base. Make sure the streets are getting cleaned and the trash picked up, and that someone answers the phone and responds to the emails.

Seattle has moved on from virtue signaling progressive ineffective nut jobs. we tried that for the last 1o years I was a disaster for affordable housing and public safety

hard pass

When The Stranger has lost Catalina Vel-DuRay, there's really no coming back.

Xitiso dear, it's not that The Stranger has "lost" me. It's that they refuse to understand how local politics works.

Being on a City Council is first and foremost a civic responsibility, not a platform. The council is responsible for making sure that the city is well run and a good steward of the tax dollars they have been entrusted with. And Seattlites are increasingly demanding when it comes to that. For example, when was the last time we had a two-term Mayor? (answer: Greg Nickels, back in the 00's). As I said above, you gotta take care of business if you want to be re-elected, not just preach to your base.

Further, the reality of Our Fair City is that it is increasingly affluent/expensive, and that affluence is largely caused by tech and biotech, as well as our old standby Aerospace. That's not to say that those companies shouldn't pay more taxes. There's a conservative argument to be made that since they have caused the growth they should help with things like infrastructure. But you can't villainize an entire subset of citizens and their employers - especially in such a churlish and childish manner as writers like Our Dear Hannah does - and expect to get a warm reception.

The Stranger has always been the paper of the young hipster. It stole that mantle away from The Seattle Weekly, which had become sedate and self-satisfied (and regarded The Stranger in the same churlish, childish manner). Don't be a Seattle Weekly, The Stranger.