Howard Schultz, a former Starbucks chief executive, announced on Wednesday that he and his wife are relocating from Seattle to Florida after spending 45 years in Washington State.
He made the announcement via LinkedIn, where he wrote about how he and his wife, Sheri, moved from New York City to Seattle decades ago to start “a new life.”
“Sheri would be the breadwinner in the family, taking on a career in design,” he explained. “And I started a new job on September 7, 1982, at a place called Starbucks.”
He later became the Starbucks CEO, serving in that role from 1986 to 2000, from 2008 to 2017, and from 2022 to 2023.
“It is our hope that Washington will remain a place for business and entrepreneurship to thrive”
Howard Schultz as he moves to the tax haven of Florida. pic.twitter.com/RKOkUrpans
— Keegan – Smartest Boy Urbanist™️ (@keegan_tweets) March 11, 2026
While Schultz didn’t provide a reason for his move to Florida, except to say that he and his wife are ready to start the “retirement” phase of their lives, he did write something interesting about Washington State:
“It is our hope that Washington will remain a place for business and entrepreneurship to thrive, creating essential opportunity for those in Seattle and the surrounding areas.”
This is particularly interesting because Washington State is on the verge of potentially implementing a millionaire’s tax that’s expected to drive the rich and wealthy out of the blue utopian state.
“Washington is just a few steps away from imposing a tax on individuals earning more than $1 million annually,” according to Forbes. “Washington Senate Bill 6346 will levy a 9.9% tax on income above $1 million based on federal adjusted gross income with certain state adjustments.”
Gov. Bob Ferguson, a rabid leftist, has signaled his interest in signing the bill into law.
The Millionaires’ Tax passed by the House represents historic progress in rebalancing our unfair system.
It sends significant dollars back to Washington families and small businesses.
It expands the Working Families Tax Credit to 460,000 additional households – that’s money…
— Governor Bob Ferguson (@GovBobFerguson) March 11, 2026
“The Millionaires’ Tax passed by the House represents historic progress in rebalancing our unfair system,” he said on Tuesday. “It sends significant dollars back to Washington families and small businesses. It expands the Working Families Tax Credit to 460,000 additional households – that’s money straight back into the pockets of working families.”
“It saves working parents money and ensures our kids are prepared to learn by funding free breakfast and lunch for all Washington K-12 students, which has been a priority of mine since I ran for governor. The Millionaires’ Tax will apply to less than one-half of one percent of Washingtonians, but make life more affordable for millions. I look forward to signing it,” he added.
But Republicans have warned of the consequences of the millionaire’s tax.
“If a Starbucks or a Boeing or other people start to diminish their presence in Washington State, guess what happens?” state Rep. Andrew Barkis said to Spear’s Magazine. “Those high-paying jobs? They are going to leave. It is happening.”
Speaking of which, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos already left the state three years ago when he relocated to Florida. While he didn’t attribute his move to anything political, many speculated that the move was because of Washington’s then-new capital gains tax.
“The measure applies a 7% tax on the sale of financial assets, such as stocks and bonds,” according to The Seattle Times. “It applies only to profits over $250,000 and does not apply to real estate or retirement accounts.”
Investment expert Michael Ashley Schulman previously told Spear’s that if a wealth tax were implemented, it’d also probably inspire people who aren’t wealthy quite yet to leave.
“We might see soon-to-be-billionaires moving states before they reach that level of wealth, because they could think ‘jeez, I could save $50 million if I change residency before this happens,'” he explained.
The great irony is that, though the wealth tax is designed to increase revenue, it could very well decrease it instead.
“While it may seem counterintuitive that this result would occur, the math is simple,” Forbes notes. “Because the tax applies to only about 0.5% of taxpayers, even a small number of relocations could significantly affect projected revenue. Thus, while the 99.5% that are not subject to the tax will not be directly impacted, they could be indirectly impacted by tax revenue shortfalls.”
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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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