Seattle business groups confront Mayor Katie Wilson over taxes and public safety

# What happened At the Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce annual meeting, Chamber President and CEO Joe Nguyen addressed about 850 attendees with a clear message: avoid new taxes or regulations on employers. Nguyen said companies and talent can choose where to locate and that rising costs, public-safety issues, and cumulative policy impacts make the employer community vulnerable.

# What the Chamber argued Nguyen told the audience that employers "cannot be treated as an endless resource" and that city leaders must be honest about taxes on businesses. He warned that current prosperity could slip away if business conditions deteriorate.

Separately, the Chamber joined two other civic organizations, Challenge Seattle and the Washington Roundtable, in a letter to Mayor Katie Wilson. The letter urges immediate action on public safety and urges the city to include specific measures in its 2027 budget planning.

# Specific demands in the business letter

• Produce a public safety action plan within 100 days.
• Increase regular foot and bicycle police patrols in neighborhoods with persistent safety problems, including Little Saigon.
• Activate CCTV cameras in Pioneer Square, the Stadium District, and other high-event areas to deter crime and aid investigations.
• Recommit to the current standard 7-minute 911 response times.
• Shut down open-air drug markets and adopt a policy banning camping within 250 feet of parks, playgrounds, or schools, with encampments in these areas cleared within 72 hours.

The coalition included public statements and data points: a poll of registered voters showing only 34% confidence that the city has an effective plan to address these issues, and a comparison of sworn officer rates showing Seattle with about 1.31 sworn officers per 1,000 residents — lower than Denver, San Francisco, and Boston by the percentages cited in the letter.

# Business leaders and brands named in the letter

# Tax context and political backdrop Mayor Wilson has not proposed new business taxes during her first eight months in office. She has said she is considering tax options to close a projected $175 million gap in the city's 2027 budget. The business community has previously failed to stop earlier business taxes: a payroll tax that began in 2021 and a housing tax enacted in 2025. Wilson campaigned actively in favor of the 2025 housing tax before taking office in January 2026.

# Data and operational concerns cited by business groups The letter points to operational data affecting retailers: Nordstrom's flagship downtown store reportedly receives officer responses to only 29% of its 911 calls, while Southcenter and Bellevue locations receive responses to 100% of their calls. The groups used such examples to argue for prioritized policing and faster responses.

# Mayor Wilson's response Wilson did not comment directly at the Chamber meeting. She issued a statement noting actions taken in her first nine months: increased police presence, including foot and bicycle patrols, in neighborhoods such as Rainier Beach, the Chinatown-International District, Little Saigon, North Aurora, and Belltown. She said shootings and homicides are at their lowest point in a decade but acknowledged ongoing problems with crime and public disorder.

# Why this matters now City officials are setting the budget for 2027. Business pressure against new employer taxes and for stronger public-safety measures adds political weight to budget debates. The business coalition's polling and operational complaints aim to influence budget priorities and public-safety staffing and deployment decisions in the months before budget adoption.