History of the Seattle Workers’ Movement: The Amazon Tax

Em Smith

In 2020, workers in Seattle won the Amazon Tax — a massive tax on big business which raises more than $400 million per year to fund affordable housing.

It was won through two years of struggle against Amazon, its corporate lobbyists, and the Democratic Party. It was won with the leadership of Kshama Sawant and other revolutionary socialists, and through the strength of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement.

In 2018, Kshama and the movement forced the Democrats to pass a smaller version of the Amazon Tax, which would have raised $50 million per year. But the Democrats betrayed the movement, conspiring with Amazon lobbyists to repeal the tax just weeks later.

Fresh off their victory in repealing the tax, Amazon spent a record $1.5 million in the local elections, in an attempt to buy City Hall. Their main target was Kshama Sawant. 

The movement fought back, defeated Amazon’s slate of candidates, and re-elected Kshama as an independent socialist.

Kshama used her inauguration to re-launch the Amazon Tax fight. She organized a series of mass action conferences culminating in a ballot initiative which collected 30,000 signatures.

The Democrats now faced the combined pressure of the Black Lives Matter movement, the 30,000-strong Tax Amazon campaign, and Kshama’s socialist City Council office. In order to save face and stop a stronger initiative from passing, they were forced to pass their own Amazon Tax bill which they dubbed the “JumpStart Tax.” 

Amazon had killed the first deal in 2018, but workers came back with a vengeance. The tax passed in 2020 was five times bigger than the first one.

Since 2020, City Council Democrats have systematically worked to divert Amazon Tax funds away from affordable housing, and towards covering holes in the general budget (including massive increases in police funding).

Despite these attacks, the Amazon Tax still funds over $200 million per year in affordable housing. It has created thousands of new affordable housing units, including new developments like New Hope Family Housing in the Central District and Four Amigos Beloved Community in Beacon Hill.

Like all victories under capitalism, the Amazon Tax will face further attacks. We need to fight to defend it, and to expand it to fund things like free childcare and free healthcare for all. 

We also can’t let the Democrats whitewash the movement’s history. Don’t let anyone call this the “JumpStart” Tax. It’s the Amazon Tax, and workers won it.