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The City of Seattle’s proposed head tax on businesses has Amazon balking.

The company says it is suspending development on some construction projects in the city until there’s a vote on the tax.

It’s set off a flurry of meetings and more than a little hand-wringing.

The fear is that if the city council goes ahead with this idea — to tax large companies per employee — it will chase Amazon out of town.

Report: Council to delay vote on head tax

But how serious is Amazon’s threat?

Monica Nickelsburg, GeekWire’s Civic Innovation editor, the company is not speaking beyond the statement that it would pause construction on its project and the project.

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Amazon won’t say what happens if a head tax passes. However, Nickelsburg says it’s unlikely the announcements this week that Amazon would be adding thousands of jobs outside of Seattle were a coincidence. The company wanted to remind the city it doesn’t have to be here, she says.

The current proposal for a head tax — the one shouted down by construction workers Thursday — would tax about 3 percent of the city’s businesses 26 cents per employee, per hour. The purpose is to raise at least $75 million to tackle the homeless problem and affordability issues.

Even if Amazon upped and left, or reduced operations in Seattle, Nickelsburg says the city wouldn’t be in a bad place.

“Truth is, we have a robust economy,” she said. “We have giants in biotech, the tech industry…”

In fact, it may help startups if Amazon had less of a footprint in the city. They may actually be able to afford office space. Of course, the head tax could also be a deterrent to startups as well.

It’s currently a wait-and-see situation though. The council is reportedly going to delay a vote on the head tax as it re-thinks the legislation.

Listen to the entire conversation with GeekWire’s Monica Nickelsburg here.