Seattle mayor laughs off millionaires leaving Washington state over progressive taxes, waves ‘bye’
Greater Seattle Katie Wilson laughed and appeared to encourage the notion that millionaires might go away the state of Washington whereas discussing her help for a progressive tax throughout an interview earlier this month.
“I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are, like, super overblown. And if — the ones that leave, like, bye,” she stated, which prompted cheers and laughter from the viewers on the Seattle University occasion, Seattle University Conversationswhich occurred on April 14.
Wilson was requested if she believed progressive taxes had been an “easy” and “promising” resolution to the tax local weather within the space. She stated she by no means thought they had been simple, however stated she was excited about the millionaire tax that handed within the state.
“In general, we still have the very regressive tax system, and my office is doing a lot of work to look at what our options are in terms of progressive taxation,” she stated. “We do have more flexibility at the city, at the county, in terms of our taxing authority. And at the same time, I believe what I said before, which is that, it’s not good for Seattle’s business environment, for example, for the cost of doing business in downtown Seattle to be wildly out of step with, for instance, neighboring Bellevue,” she stated.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson appears to be like on after the ceremonial first pitch earlier than the sport between the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Wash., on March 30, 2026.
(Getty Images)
Wilson stated that she was taking a look at progressive tax choices that do not improve the price of using individuals in Seattle.
“We have a large structural budget deficit at the city that we’re going to have to figure out how to deal with in this upcoming budget cycle,” she added. “And my budget office, budget staff are hard at work trying to figure out both how we can use our revenue as effectively and efficiently as possible. And I think similarly refrains from the executive, right, if there are programs that aren’t fulfilling their promise that aren’t working, like we’re not going to be afraid to end them, right?”
“And so I think that being a progressive doesn’t necessarily mean that we keep layering on spending, and we never stop doing things, right?” Wilson continued. “So I think it’s — that’s really important. And at the same time, we probably aren’t going to need new revenue.”
The Seattle mayor was elected in November 2025 and has been compared to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, as they’re each democratic socialists.
Wilson defeated Seattle’s incumbent Mayor Bruce Harrell in November. Like Mamdani, she has brazenly campaigned on progressive concepts equivalent to government-run grocery shops, regardless of their “record of failure,” The Washington Post editorial board wrote on the time.
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Starbucks Corp. headquarters in Seattle, Washington, on Sept. 26, 2025.
Fox 13 Seattle reported Earlier this month 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.”
In a press release Tuesday, Starbucks introduced it’ll make investments $100 million and convey 2,000 new jobs to Nashville.
Wilson, after successful the mayoral election in 2025, joined a Starbucks protest picket line, and stated, “That is why I am proud to join them on their picket line and proud to say loud and clear, I am not buying Starbucks and you should not either,” according to KUOW.
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According to the Tax FoundationSeattle has the very best mixed state and native gross sales tax price, sitting at 10.35%.
Seattle surpassed the town of Tacoma, Washington, which had a ten.3 p.c tax price, when King County, the place Seattle is situated, adopted a 0.1% additional sales tax to generate further income for nonprofits by offering cultural programming, in response to the Tax Foundation.
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Fox News’ Rachel del Guidice and Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.
Original article supply: Seattle mayor laughs off millionaires leaving Washington state over progressive taxes, waves ‘bye’
