Sawant hopes to make good on promise to tax Amazon

Most of Amazon’s preferred candidates for Seattle City Council lost the election.

Kshama Sawant, the council member most targeted by big business in this election, promises to be an unrelenting thorn in their side.

She wants to tax Amazon. She says she has a mandate.

"It’s very clear that the support for taxes on large corporations is widespread," she said.

Sawant also co-sponsored Seattle’s proposed income tax on wealthy households. The Washington State Supreme Court could rule on that next year.

Brian Hodges is a lawyer fighting that income tax in court. "Seattle has targeted the wealthy, has tried to vilify the wealthy as causing many of the societal problems we’re seeing in Seattle," he said.

It’s too early to know if efforts to tax Amazon or wealthy households will have broad support from new council members. The November election won’t even be certified until the end of this month.