The mayor of Seattle’s ‘greeting’ to tax leavers is no laughing matter to some in tech.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is being greeted with some backlash over her latest “goodbye.”
In an interview earlier this month at Seattle University, Wilson promised him that they will be threatened by millionaires in Washington state who say that the tax policy will force them to leave.
“I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our country, it’s like a big overstatement. And if – those who leave, like, bye,” Wilson said as he raised a wave before laughing in the crowd. (See the exchange at 39:09 in the video below.)
The comments, which resurfaced online this week, drew criticism from some in Seattle’s tech community, who saw them as a sign of a broader hatred toward businesses in the region.
Wilson was joined by King County Executive Girmay Zahilay in an April 14 interview with the president about how their progressive ways in politics and policies are shaping the future of the Puget Sound region. Both were appointed in November.
The mayor was asked if he thinks progressive taxes — like the state’s recently passed 9.9% tax on taxable, annual personal income over $1 million — are “a simple and promising solution.”
“As someone who has been fighting for a progressive tax for a long time, I can tell you it’s not easy,” Wilson said, adding that he was “happy” to see the so-called millionaire tax pass the state Legislature.
Wilson acknowledged that Washington’s tax structure remains largely regressive, and said his office is looking at progressive tax options available to the city. While noting that Seattle has more local tax flexibility than the state, he cautioned that Seattle cannot drift too far from its neighbors — pointing to Bellevue as an example — without jeopardizing its competitiveness as a place to do business.
GeekWire has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment and will update when we hear back.
The debate over the progressive tax in Washington state has been building for months, with the tech community in particular — though not uniformly — alarmed by what it sees as a hostile policy environment.
While the billionaire tax is still a proposal, a coalition of AI researchers, inventors, and investors wrote to Gov. Bob Ferguson is urging him to stop both the income tax and the proposed expansion of the capital gains tax, warning that these measures will push top talent and up-and-coming startups out of the region.
In the past, some emerging leaders have called the proposal for a related capital benefit aimed at starting equity as an “extinction-level event,” when founders testified in Olympia against the bill. The measure failed to pass.
Prominent voices such as Microsoft President Brad Smith have been cited in their criticism, warning that Washington risks taking its technology sector for granted and urging lawmakers to focus on economic development – not just revenue generation.
Wilson’s wave and “bye” are drawing new scrutiny among others in Seattle’s tech community.
“Seattle is very excited,” longtime Seattle investor and entrepreneur Chris DeVore wrote on LinkedIn on Friday. “When the person in charge of the city doesn’t seem to understand that all jobs and income tax comes from private employers, and firing employers completely interferes with his ability to pay for his communication programs, it is clear that we are in for a difficult decade, if not a permanent decline.
In an opinion piece earlier this month for GeekWire, DeVore expressed his frustration with Democrats at the state and national level today who he said are turning capitalism into the enemy, “pursuing predatory tax policies that hurt corporate wealth.”
Charles Fitzgerald, another Seattle-area investor, warned earlier this year on GeekWire of the risk of Seattle becoming “the next Cleveland,” saying the city’s success could come quickly because of a deteriorating business environment.
On his Platformonomics blog on Friday, Fitzgerald posted several items – including a New York Post story about Wilson’s comments – under the heading “Don’t be Cleveland”. Others include a report citing record office vacancy rates in Seattle, the downgrade of the federal debt, and more.
Not everyone in the tech community shares the alarm. Jacob Colker, managing director at the AI2 Incubator, pushed back earlier this year on what he called the “perpetual narrative” that Seattle’s tax bill is one step away from collapse, saying that a few points in additional taxes don’t outweigh the region’s deep bench of AI talent, investment capital, and quality of life.
“Should we be thinking about tax policy? Heck yeah,” Colker wrote. “But the breathless narrative that Seattle is one building away from collapse is not a difficult analysis.”
While the wave of Wilson’s farewell sparked a backlash, a comment on DeVore’s LinkedIn post from Seattle businessman and investor Diego Oppenheimer summed up some of the frustration with the comment of a single, wordless emoji — the facepalm.
