A Fox Business Network personality hosted a segment this week called “Senseless in Seattle” in which she shared her opinions on the city’s minimum wage law, gun tax, and recently-passed income tax on the wealthy.
The debate of the income tax has been sharply divided between a “tax the rich” movement supporting the tax and the Washington State GOP and others opposing it.
Host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery – formerly an MTV VJ who also spent time around 2000 hosting a radio talk show in Seattle – took a bold stance in a two-minute clip in which she said the Emerald City has “devolved into a Socialist hellhole” because of the Seattle City Council “commies” and “do-gooder authoritarians.”
Hundreds of people on social media have engaged with her video about Seattle, in which she said “freedom died along with every good singer from the '90s.”
Watch the video below, and scroll down to read about the topics of her video.
Montgomery’s editorial video hit on the city’s minimum wage law, gun tax, and recently passed income tax on the wealthy. Here are the facts behind those issues:
<strong>Minimum wage study: </strong>A University of Washington study showed minimum wage workers in Seattle may be making more money, but the number of available jobs is shrinking. UW researchers said because of the 2014 law gradually increasing the minimum wage to $15, employers have done everything from cutting jobs to slashing hours.
Some have dismissed that study because of a UC Berkley report that stated the minimum wage increase helped restaurant employees. Last year, an investigation by the Albany Times-Union raised questions about Berkley's "predictively positive" studies. <a href="http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/is-seattles-minimum-wage-costing-jobs/541311978">Read about both studies here</a>.
<strong>Gun tax: </strong><a href="http://mynorthwest.com/12602/seattle-city-council-approves-25-gun-tax-regulations/" target="_blank">Seattle passed a gun tax in August 2015</a>. It was aimed at funding gun violence prevention, research and other programs to mitigate the public costs of gun-related crimes. It places a $25 tax on guns sold in Seattle, as well as up to a 5-cent fee on each round of ammunition purchased.
After nearly two years under the tax, Seattle is experiencing a rise in gun violence. There were 36 shootings and four fatalities in the first five months of 2017. Reports of shots fired rose to 155 by May 15, 2017. That figure is 11 more than the same time in 2015, and 23 more than this time last year.
<strong>Income tax: </strong>The Seattle City Council voted 9-0 for the ordinance, which would establish an income tax on individuals in Seattle who earn more than $250,000 annually and married couples filing jointly who earn more than $500,000 a year. <a href="http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/seattle-city-council-to-vote-on-income-tax-for-high-earners/555261376">Read specifically how people would be taxed here</a>.
The council believes the tax will move Seattle toward a more progressive system because it is intended to reduce regressive taxes such as property taxes, and finance priorities such as addressing the homelessness crisis and offsetting federal budget cuts.
The ordinance faces many legal challenges as it's illegal under the Washington state constitution for cities to impose an income tax. But the fight is expected to be challenged to the state Supreme Court, and critics say Seattle's efforts are clearly against state law.
Days after the segment aired, Montgomery, who claims she lived in Portland for years, was still talking to people on Twitter about Seattle and tweeted, "Oh, and Pete Carroll Sucks too." Hundreds have responded to her video, with a variety of responses.
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Cox Media Group
