High taxes contribute to Seattle’s job losses, report says
Even as Seattle has grown in population, it has lost job creation to the suburbs, a new Washington Research Council report shows.
The report suggests that Seattle’s higher businesses taxes are coaxing companies to create jobs in the suburbs. And that trend could lead to dwindling Seattle revenues even as demand for services grows with the population.
“Seattle is becoming a place to live rather than work,” reads a headline in the report: Seattle’s Lost Decade. The flight of jobs to the suburbs left Seattle with 7,900 few jobs in the spring of 2008 than it offered in the spring of 2000. During that same stretch of time, Bellevue added 19,200 jobs; Redmond, 16,000; and Issaquah, 4,000 new jobs.
In the case of these cities, unlike Seattle, Redmond charges no business and occupation tax. And Bellevue’s B&O and property taxes are lower than Seattle’s.
The report makes a clear point that tax levels matter when businesses decide where to locate. To read the entire report, click here.
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