Is Seattle’s newest tax a death sentence for businesses?

From the KCGOP,

Seattle’s taxing spree continued today as City Councilmembers Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata introduced an amendment to Mayor Ed Murray’s newest “save Metro” proposal.

Last week, Murray announced his plan to implement a city-wide $60 car tab and a .1% sales tax in order to preserve Metro route cuts within Seattle.

Sawant and Licata’s amendment would add an “employee head tax of up to $18 per year” and increase the “existing 12.5 percent parking tax rise to 17.5 percent.” According to the Seattle Times, Licata’s intention is “for the City Council to enact the parking and head taxes, and for citizens to vote on a $60 car tab fee for transit, as required in state codes.”

Today’s news comes as the latest in a series of new tax measures proposed to Seattleites. Seattle voters will decide on the “largest special levy in city history,” a $48 million-a-year parks measure in August. And, in the near future, Seattleites will decide on a proposition introduced by Murray and City Councilmember Tim Burgess that would provide universal preschool in Seattle, but require a special tax levy to collect “$58 million for four years (so about $15 million a year).”

Details on how the employee head tax will be implemented remain unknown. What is known? Given Murray’s $15 minimum wage plan, Seattle looks less and less business friendly everyday.