Council Member Alexis Mercedes Rinck Proposes Hiking Tax On Big Business --- And Mayor Bruce Harrell's On Board

Council Member Alexis Mercedes Rinck is proposing a tax hike on big business with an unusual partner --- Mayor Bruce Harrell.

Their joint proposal will raise the Business and Occupation tax on big business, while lowering the rate on small businesses, to raise $90 million annually. The spend plan will fund human services, the Office of Labor Standards, and small business support. And Rinck's sending it to the ballot for an extra layer of political protection from becoming a slushfund like the JumpStart payroll tax.

While Rinck has been very explicit about her desire to raise progressive revenue, both to fix the ongoing budget deficit and to backfill possible cuts from the Trump administration, Harrell's not necessarily a champ.

In the fall of 2022, Harrell and former Council Member Teresa Mosqueda hosted a task force to brainstorm tax ideas. But Harrell's besties at the Chamber of Commerce totally derailed the conversation and then the progressive majority council at the time did not act urgently to pass any of their suggestions. Then the 2023 election happened, sending the progressive revenue dreams off to sea.

But in recent months, Harrell's gestured toward progressive revenue. Almost as though the progressive coaltion has been right all along: They won't find millions in the couch cushions.

But his change of heart doesn't feel all that genuine as he runs for re-election against longtime progressive revenue champ Katie Wilson. And Harrell only recently made himself the literal face of a failed campaign against levying new taxes on big business to pay for social housing.

“It’s clear that Harrell is terrified he won’t win re-election, and he suddenly feels the need to show progressive leadership by backing this proposal from Councilmember Rinck,” said his opponent Wilson in a press release. “It’s disappointing that it takes the threat of being unseated for our mayor to do the right thing. We need a mayor who will responsibly manage the city budget and lead on progressive revenue every year they are in office, not just in an election year.”

Even if Harrell's support is potentially self-interested, it could help Rinck persuade her collegues to support it. She'll be working on a tight timeline. To get the intiative to voters in November, the council will need to vote on it by the August 5th primary.

The last time the council had a primary day deadline, they famously delayed the vote, pushing the social housing intiative until a lower turnout special election.

Rinck told The Burner that she feels confident her collegues will support the intiative. She's garnered a broad coalition of support, it answers a huge budget problem, it gives some padding against Trump, and the set up totally disarms the chambers usual, already disingenuous appeals to the wellbeing of small business. Besides, she's not asking them necessarily to support themselves, just to let the voters have a say. And Rinck trusts the voters will like her proposal.

This is a developing story and I'll be updating