SEATTLE — On Monday, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed a proposal to revise the Business and Occupation Tax aimed at reducing or eliminating that tax burden from many small to medium-sized businesses.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell signed off on the measure, which will now go to the voters in November.
The Mayor and Council believe that revising the Business and Occupation (B&O) tax could impact up to 90% of small and medium-sized businesses.
Dave Bradburn, the owner/manager of Hobb’s Hilltop Automotive in Queen Anne, said he knows firsthand how the taxes impact him.
“It really puts a squeeze on us. We’re now at $23,000 a year just in taxes, for our property,” Bradburn said.
He has worked for years, and has seen taxes only go in one direction-- up. Bradburn says the idea of cutting the B&O tax sounds good on paper, but in practice, it won’t amount to much since property tax hits harder.
“B&O tax, lowering it a little bit really doesn’t do anything for me…the little bit I’m going to realize out of it doesn’t impact my business," he said.
Hours after the council and Mayor endorsed the plan to revise the B&O Tax, the Downtown Seattle Association denounced the plan.
In a statement, President and CEO Jon Scholes said:
“The City of Seattle is collecting more revenue this year than at any point in our city’s history. Raising a B&O tax that is already the highest in the nation doesn’t solve the city’s self-inflicted spending problems.”
Bradburn says his first roughly $2,000 earned each month is for taxes. If taxes were managed better, or lowered across the board, it would be a benefit.
“It would allow me to possibly put on another person, create more revenue more tax dollars.”
Bradburn says any more tax burden is passed off to the customers.
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