Kshama Sawant on taxing Amazon to solve Seattle’s housing crisis

Kshama Sawant is a socialist member of the Seattle City Council. Elected in 2013, Sawant has championed increasing the minimum wage and higher taxes on multinational corporations. In 2018, Sawant was one of only two dissenting voices on the city council voting in favour of a Seattle head tax, which would have seen Amazon pay the city $11 million annually to fund public housing and homeless services. In response, Amazon spent an unprecedented $1.5 million to defeat her reelection bid in 2019. Sawant ultimately beat this exorbitant campaign and is currently serving her third term in office.  We spoke with Sawant about Covid-19 and the intersecting crises of homelessness and healthcare throughout the US.

Om Podcasten

ourVoices is a podcast from openDemocracy which explores the ongoing crisis of our economic system – and promotes intelligent debate about what should replace it. We bring together some of the most exciting thinkers from around the world, and give a voice to those who are putting new economic ideas into practice from the ground up.