"Conservatives Already Hate It"

One doesn't have to be a conservative to hate it. Being unemployed between contracts is enough to make any tech worker hate it. I'm glad I'm semi retired - it's brutal out there.

If you are going to talk about the questions Brandi Kruse was asking you should also talk about Scott's responses.

"Kruse: Do you think Amazon and Microsoft are a net good for our state?

Scott: Umm, say more about that, when you say that what do you mean?

Kruse: Do you think they contribute and add more value to our state than they detract?

Scott: I think that workers, were they to collectivize, could come up with something like Amazon on their own, but that Amazon has a very difficult time providing the value that you would like to see in reverse. In other words, I think that working people getting together, forming unions, coming out and lobbying for policies such as this, could create something that resembled an Amazon corporation without that added layer of exploitation. But I don't know that Amazon's leadership such as it is would be able to do something like that on its own."

The level of arrogance and economic ignorance in that statement is off the charts.

“He mentioned his bill could be a step forward toward fixing Washington’s regressive tax code”

This proposal does nothing of the sort. If one wishes to address / fix our regressive tax code, then one needs to cut / eliminate said regressive taxes when introducing progressive taxes. I don’t understand why this is difficult for folks to grasp.

As for this tax, just stop fucking around - go after an income tax (given the income threshold of $125,000 Scott is obviously trying to backdoor a graduated income tax - just do that).

And one snide aside, since when did a $125,000 salary denote someone as rich in this - that barely puts you in the middle class

And one snide aside, since when did a $125,000 salary denote someone as rich in Seattle metro - that barely puts you in the middle class

"Still broken by Boeing’s departure, Republican lawmakers ... worry businesses will pack up and leave."

"It’s not that easy to pick up and leave our talent pool behind."

So, a heavy industrial enterprise, totally dependent upon concentrating large numbers of highly skilled laborers into huge factories equipped with incredibly expensive (and often custom-installed) machine tools, was indeed able to leave -- but it's "not that easy" for anyone else to move? Like, companies where lots of folks already work from home? They can't go? WTF?

(Of course, this generously assumes the Stranger knows anything at all about the current situation of Boeing in Washington state...)

"WA Gov. Bob Ferguson says his budget will rely on cuts, not taxes"
Seattle Times Dec. 3, 2025

I guess that MAGA Republican Governor of Washington State Bob Ferguson is one of the conservatives who hates Sean Scott's payroll tax....

Boeing didn't leave. Their executive offices left, and the company is worse off for that. They've had factories in other parts of the country for decades.

@8 with all due respect they built another plant in South Carolina after the last machinists strike and this month they just announced a $1B expansion to build another line there

https://investors.boeing.com/investors/news/press-release-details/2025/Boeing-South-Carolina-Breaks-Ground-on-787-Site-Expansion/default.aspx

Beyond that the tech jobs being targeted by this legislation are easily moveable as Covid demonstrated. Like Seattle these things will not happen immediately but what will happen is job growth will slow in our area as new positions and backfills are made in other locations. The hubris demonstrated by Scott when he says workers can create their own Amazon should erode any credibility he has on these types of issues..

Rep. Shaun Scott's Statewide Payroll Tax to Fight Trump Cuts makes too much sense. It will never fly.