Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, who dropped his campaign for reelection back in May, resigned this week as Mayor in the face of the fifth person (this one his younger cousin) coming forward to accuse him of child sexual abuse. Murray officially vacated the office effective at 5PM on Wednesday and City Council President Bruce Harrell will serve temporarily as Mayor. He must decide within 5 days whether to become acting Mayor, in which case he would have to resign his Council office. Unrelated to the salacious side of Seattle news, Murray was a staunch proponent of a $15 minimum wage (passed in Seattle in 2014) as well as the establishment of a new tax on the sale of sugary drinks (passed June 2017) and predictive scheduling (passed last fall and effective this summer), along with imposing an income tax of 2.25% on individuals with incomes in excess of $250,000, and families with income exceeding $500,000, the so-called millionaire tax. (I’ve never understood how it can be a millionaire’s tax when the income being taxed is much less than $1 Million, but I digress!) The Seattle income tax flies in the face of Washington State being one of seven that do not have nor allow an income tax and in light of that fact, a group of taxpayers have filed suit challenging the legality of the new tax in view of the state prohibition. We’ll keep an eye on new developments on this issue . . .