CITY OF SEATTLE
ORDINANCE __________________
COUNCIL BILL __________________
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AN ORDINANCE related to funding for the Equitable Development Initiative and affordable housing; creating a fund for short-term rental tax revenue.
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WHEREAS, on November 13, 2017, the City Council passed Ordinance 125442, authorizing a tax on every person engaging within Seattle in the business of being a short-term rental operator, with specific direction on how the proceeds generated from the short-term rental tax should be expended; and
WHEREAS, on March 23, 2018, the Governor signed House Bill (HB) 2015, modifying the lodging excise tax under RCW 36.100.040 to remove the exemption for premises with fewer than 60 lodging units and to impose the tax on short-term rentals; and
WHEREAS, HB 2015 requires that a public facilities district within a county with a population of 1,500,000 or more must make quarterly payments to a city in which a convention and trade center is located from tax revenue from short-term rentals collected by a public facilities district only if: (1) the city had authorized on or before December 31, 2017, a tax on engaging in the business of being a short-term rental operator; and (2) the city has repealed the ordinance authorizing a tax on engaging in the business of being a short-term rental operator; and
WHEREAS, as a result of HB 2015, the public facilities district that operates the Washington State Convention Center will impose the lodging tax under RCW 36.100.040 on short-term rentals in Seattle; and
WHEREAS, in order to receive the tax revenue from short-term rentals as authorized by HB 2015, on June 4, 2018, the City Council passed Ordinance 125594, thereby repealing Ordinance 125442, repealing the City's short-term rental tax that would have been imposed under Chapter 5.54 of the Seattle Municipal Code beginning January 1, 2019; and
WHEREAS, HB 2015 requires that the payments made to a city must be used to support community-initiated equitable...
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