Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson remains unbothered by the exodus of business owners from her rabidly left-wing state.
A February survey from the Association of Washington Business found that 44 percent of business owners in Washington were considering relocating out of the state because of its exorbitant tax policies.
In late March, the problem only grew worse when Gov. Bob Ferguson signed into law a millionaire’s tax that imposes a hefty 9.9 percent income tax on any household with over $1 million in income.
The mass exodus of Washington State is currently underway. Would the last person out please off the lights.#financialflight #votewithyourfeet #abandonship pic.twitter.com/OhBH4dYOGh
— Mineral City LLC (Aviation Division)🇺🇲✝️ (@snocoshxt) June 8, 2026
Days later, the employee-owned wealth management firm Coldstream reported that “many high-income earning Washington residents” were “now looking for a way out” of the leftist utopia.
“A Washington resident earning $3 million annually now faces a state income tax bill of nearly $200,000 under the Millionaire Tax—money that would remain entirely in the family’s pocket in Nevada, Florida, Texas, or Wyoming,” the firm noted in its report.
Despite these developments, Wilson remains convinced that nothing is up.
“So today, do you still feel the narrative of the rich leaving is still overblown?” she was asked during an interview last week with local station KCPQ.
“So, I still think that claims of a large exodus of rich people due to our statewide millionaire tax that the legislature passed this year are overblown,” the Seattle mayor nonchalantly replied. “I do believe that.”
“When I think about the last five months and the things that I and my administration have done to build bridges with the business community, the narrative that was spun around those things is very, very out of step with the reality,” she added.
Listen to the full interview below:
(Video Credit: Fox 13 Seattle)
She even had the audacity to tout her relationship with Starbucks, which she alleged has donated funds for a 90-unit village that’s to be opened “later this summer.”
“And so these are all like — so this narrative that it’s like Seattle socialist mayor versus Starbucks, like well, then why are they donating a million dollars to our shelter site?” she said. “So, you know, the attitude that I have tried to come in with into office toward the business community is, ‘Look, we’re not going to agree on everything,’ right?”
But it’s more complicated than that. As previously reported, only hours after Wilson’s opponent conceded defeat in the November 2025 election, she joined striking Starbucks employees on the picket line and called for people to boycott the company.
“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,” she said from the picket line.
Listen:
Socialist Seattle Mayor-elect Katie Wilson’s first move after winning the election was to boycott Starbucks, a hometown company. pic.twitter.com/zPoNULxfuk
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) November 14, 2025
She later doubled down while speaking at a Seattle University forum in April.
“I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are super overblown,” she said in response to concerns about her rabid leftist policies driving businesses away. “And the ones that leave? Like, bye.”
Listen:
In the wake of Washington state’s approval of a new income tax on millionaires, Seattle mayor Katie Wilson, a democratic socialist, brushes aside concerns about wealthy residents fleeing the state.
“The ones that leave—like, ‘bye!’” pic.twitter.com/vmfWcXQfvD
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 30, 2026
Unfortunately for her, the chickens soon came home to roost, because five days after her remarks, Starbucks announced that it would be expanding into another city, Nashville, in a Republican-led state.
Furthermore, according to an article in the Seattle Times, the most likely reason for the choice of Nashville was taxes, taxes, taxes.
“Tennessee boasts the nation’s eighth-best tax climate for business, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation’s 2025 survey, which considers taxes on income, businesses, sales, and property, and unemployment insurance rates,” according to the article.
In fairness to Wilson, she did at least somewhat learn her lesson.
“Those comments were not productive in the sense that they caused more harm than good,” she admitted in a New York Times interview published last month.
According to the Times, she also “said she understands now that everything she says will be parsed for potential anti-business sound-bites and that she should have ‘a multidimensional relationship’ with companies like Starbucks,” whatever the hell that means.
“I want them here, and I believe they want to be here,” she added about Starbucks.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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