Tech Boom to Tax Boom: Urban Power and Redistribution in 21st Century Seattle

Abstract

Local governments in the United States are tasked with meeting the basic needs of their residents, from public health and safety to economic development. But these "basic" services have become increasingly complex for local actors, as federal and state governments disinvest in urban policy and the provision of social care. At the same time, economic resources, opportunities, and taxable revenue consolidate in select urban regions, making post-industrial cities like Seattle sites of both prosperity and precarity. Under these conditions, how do the local policies and politics of redistribution evolve? Weaving together organizational, relational, and strategic accounts, my dissertation theorizes the evolving role of local governments in political life as subnational state formation. Through a case study of Seattle, I investigate how local actors navigate structural constraints to build autonomous fiscal capacity. Drawing on archival research, interviews, and video recordings of municipal meetings, I examine how Seattle passed an innovative and progressive tax on big businesses. While existing studies emphasize the limits imposed by private corporations, capital flight threats, and higher levels of government, I argue that cities can engage in progressive statecraft by cultivating long-term coalitions, building institutional capacity, and experimenting with policymaking. I trace the evolution of tax campaigns, coalitions, and political imaginaries, from failed, controversial, "unconstitutional" tax initiatives to the passage of the JumpStart, which funded large investments in affordable housing. Thus, this dissertation sheds light on how tech-driven growth, political shifts and realignments shape the boundaries of the possible. In a context of deepening inequality and federal gridlock, understanding what cities can achieve is vital for scholars and anyone asking how redistribution is being reimagined in and through cities.