Kshama Sawant calls out council for caving to Amazon

Kshama Sawant said her peers on the Seattle City Council want to throw in the towel and admit defeat before they even began the real fight to tax big businesses.

Prior to a special council meeting in which a repeal of the head tax would be discussed on Tuesday, June 12, Sawant rallied outside City Hall.

She called out the council and Mayor Jenny Durkan for destroying hundreds of hours of work and for their “cowardly betrayal of our movement,” as well as the “hundreds of thousands of people” struggling in the city. And Sawant said repealing the head tax is a shameful example of “caving to Amazon.”

Like she and $15 Now did to increase the city’s minimum wage, Sawant said they were planning a door-knocking campaign to make Seattle residents aware of the “distortion and lies of big business.”

Sawant was furious when council President Bruce Harrell called for the special meeting to discuss a full repeal of the head tax.

RELATED: Seattle head tax 101

Sawant described the repeal as a “backroom betrayal,” organized by her fellow councilmembers without her knowledge over the weekend.

“Remember their vote today the next time the council member complains about legislation being rushed,” Sawant said. “In fact, the movement, including my office, was only informed about this backroom legislation agreement only a couple of hours ago.”

Sawant and Teresa Mosqueda are the only two council members who are not supporting the repeal of the head tax.

“This fight was never going to be easy. In the face of a mass corporation misinformation campaign — a campaign of lies and a campaign of attacks — we do have to fight back.”

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