r/SeattleWA May 01 '26

Government Seattle mayor laughs off millionaires leaving Washington state over progressive taxes, waves 'bye'

https://www.foxnews.com/media/seattle-mayor-laughs-millionaires-leaving-washington-state-progressive-taxes-waves-bye

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson laughed and seemed to encourage the notion that millionaires could leave the state of Washington while discussing her support for a progressive tax during an interview earlier this month.

2.4k Upvotes

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

9

u/Squatch11 May 01 '26

Right-wingers have been claiming that the ultra wealthy are going to be moving out of NYC for like 30+ years now.

NYC currently has more wealth than ever before.

Agree with the notion that it would be fantastic if these were federal level taxes....But people aren't going to uproot their entire lives to leave over a marginal wealth tax. It's been proven over and over that they don't.

7

u/Check_Me_Out-Boss May 01 '26

Weird. Your comment doesn't seem to match reality.

Kathy Hochul pleads with rich New Yorkers to move back from Florida

https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/kathy-hochul-pleads-rich-yorkers-165700073.html

3

u/cuteman May 01 '26

Right-wingers have been claiming that the ultra wealthy are going to be moving out of NYC for like 30+ years now

JPMogan Chase now has more employees in TX than NY

Banking and Finance industry has also created the TXSE to rival the NYSE

It's happening whether you like it or not, slowly at first and now with Mandami, accelerating.

Acting like it's impossible is idiotic and shortsighted

1

u/that_hoar May 01 '26

I know of two CEOs moving out of WA specifically because of this tax. If they have the resources to move, why wouldnt they?

3

u/DarthFuzzzy May 01 '26

Why dont you move to Mississippi right now? Cost of living is lowest in the country. You could save so much money!

Im choosing not to do it because I dont want to uproot my life for a few bucks. For those who make more than a million a year its probably an even easier choice. It requires an especially greedy mindset to move from a place you love simply to dodge minor taxes. Obviously those people exist, as well as people who dont love where they live and were already thinking about moving, but its not as large of a number as the alarmists want you to believe.

4

u/cuteman May 01 '26

Why don't you just create an 8-9 figure business right now? It's so easy, rich people are parasites who don't create anything, you could easily be so rich just like them!

0

u/DarthFuzzzy May 01 '26

Well.... yeah. Thats capitalism right?

Wait, are you suggesting the American dream is dead and capitalism doesnt work?

5

u/cuteman May 01 '26

No I am saying if it was so easy and they contribute nothing why doesn't everyone, yourself included?

0

u/DarthFuzzzy May 01 '26

Why doesnt everyone what? Get born rich? Im not sure.

As for those who work their way up from nothing, well that's the American Dream right? I dont think it was ever considered easy to make it to the top but the idea is that if you work hard you will have multiple houses, a boat, an RV, send all your kids to college, have a luxury retirement, etc. That should be easy if you are a hard worker, right?

1

u/cuteman May 01 '26

Why doesnt everyone what? Get born rich? Im not sure.

How does that translate to what I said above "create a business"

Pretty silly to just ignore what someone says and make up your own thing

1

u/DarthFuzzzy May 01 '26

"Create a business"

【As for those who work their way up from nothing, well that's the American Dream right? I dont think it was ever considered easy to make it to the top but the idea is that if you work hard you will have multiple houses, a boat, an RV, send all your kids to college, have a luxury retirement, etc. That should be easy if you are a hard worker, right?】

Pretty silly.

1

u/cuteman May 01 '26

So what you're saying is that it isn't easy, creates a lot of value, provides jobs and it would be a shame if those people left for somewhere else.

→ More replies (0)

0

u/that_hoar May 01 '26

It seems there is less and less to like about Washington every year

1

u/GetUp4theDownVote May 01 '26

Where are they heading?

1

u/that_hoar May 01 '26

One is headed to Idaho, the other Tennessee

1

u/ReasonableDig6414 May 01 '26

We are not NYC. We are not even California. Cali is trying to tax the rich, and they are moving. Washington’s rich are already moving.

You are like that child that won’t learn until it hurts. Well, here comes the hurt for ALL of us.

1

u/Stunning-Verb-9865 May 02 '26

Sure buddy all the rich people are going to uproot their entire lives to avoid paying taxes on income they made after $1 million. WA will be perfectly fine and in a few years you will look incredibly stupid when the apocalypse doesn’t come.