Seattle mayor laughs off millionaires leaving Washington state over progressive taxes, waves ‘bye’

Mayor of Seattle Katie Wilson laughed and appeared to encourage the idea that millionaires could leave Washington state when discussing her support for a progressive tax in an interview earlier this month.

“I think the claims that millionaires are leaving our state are greatly exaggerated. And if they are leaving, goodbye,” he said, drawing cheers and laughter from the audience at a Seattle University event: Seattle University SpeechesIt took place on April 14.

Wilson was asked if he believed progressive taxes were an “easy” and “promising” solution to the district’s tax environment. He said he never thought they were easy, but he was excited. About the millionaire tax passed in this state.

“We still have a very regressive tax system overall, and my office is doing a lot of work to look at what our options are in terms of progressive taxation,” he said. “We have more flexibility in the city, in the county, in terms of our taxing authority. And at the same time, I believe what I said before, this is not good for Seattle’s business environment, in that the cost of doing business in downtown Seattle, for example, is wildly out of sync with neighboring Bellevue,” he said.

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Wilson said he’s looking at progressive tax options that don’t increase the cost of employing people in Seattle.

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“We have a large structural budget deficit in the city and we will have to figure out how to deal with that in the next budget cycle,” he added. “And my budget office and the budget staff are working hard, both trying to figure out how we can use our revenue as effectively and efficiently as possible. And I think it’s a similar refrain to the executive, right, if there are programs that don’t deliver on their promises and don’t work, like we’re not going to be afraid to end them, right?”

“And I think being progressive doesn’t necessarily mean that we should layer spending and never stop doing things, right?” Wilson continued. “I think that’s really important. At the same time, we probably won’t need any new revenue.”

Seattle mayor elected in November 2025 and compared with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, they are both democratic socialists.

wilson Defeats Seattle’s incumbent Mayor Bruce Harrell in November. Like Mamdani, he openly campaigned on progressive ideas like state-run grocery stores despite his “record of failure,” the Washington Post editorial board wrote at the time.

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Fox 13 Seattle reported Earlier this month it was said that the Emerald City “could lose up to $750 million in tax revenue in the coming years as Starbucks expands in Tennessee instead of Washington.”

One Press release On Tuesday, Starbucks announced it would invest $100 million and bring 2,000 new jobs to Nashville.

Wilson joined the Starbucks protest picket line after winning the mayoral election in 2025, saying, “So I’m proud to join them on their picket line and I’m proud to say it loud and clear: I don’t buy Starbucks and neither should you.” accordingly KUOW.

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According to the Tax FoundationSeattle has the highest combined state and local sales tax rate at 10.35%.

Seattle beat out King County, where Seattle is located, and Tacoma, Washington, which has a 10.3 percent tax rate. Adopted additional sales tax of 0.1% Generating additional revenue for nonprofits that provide cultural programs, according to the Tax Foundation.

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Fox News’ Rachel del Guidice and Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.

Original article source: Seattle mayor laughs and says ‘goodbye’ to millionaires leaving Washington state because of progressive taxes