HomePro Associates

🙋‍♀️ Emily Cressey
🥇 Best of Seattle real estate + lifestyle!
🪴Gardener
🤓Nerd
💃Fun Mom & Wife
📱 Q's? DM me!

[HomePro Associates @HomeproA]

@HalCranmer Keto

[Vijay @VijayInWA]

Is Washington’s Millionaire Tax Already Failing?
The most successful Seattleites keep finding reasons to leave.

The state of Washington’s misguided new millionaire’s tax isn’t due to take effect until 2028. But already the new exaction seems to be succeeding wildly at proving that incentives matter. Many of Washington’s most successful people keep relocating to states without income taxes.

Now Rich Barton, co-founder of the real-estate website Zillow, posts on X:

"Officially a Las Vegas resident. Kids are launched, empty nest achieved, and we’re excited to start this next chapter."

Viva Las Vegas! Who wouldn’t be excited to go where achievement is welcomed rather than punished? Not that we should always expect a detailed explanation of the barriers the state of Washington and the city of Seattle have lately been erecting in the way of entrepreneurs.

Alexis Weisend reports for the Seattle Times:

"Zillow and a representative for Barton declined to comment on the move.
His departure will undoubtedly add fuel to a heated debate over whether Washington’s upcoming “millionaires tax” — a 9.9% levy on any income over $1 million — will drive away the state’s ultrawealthy.
Several of the state’s billionaires have left in recent years, although they all cite personal reasons…
In 2023, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also left for Miami after nearly 30 years in the Puget Sound region, saying he wanted to be closer to his parents and the site of Blue Origin’s operations in Cape Canaveral."

In a recent Journal op-ed, new Florida resident and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz wrote that his “decision to leave had much to do with family choices and my stage of life.” Mr. Schultz then proceeded to explain how hostile to growth state and local policymakers in Washington have been lately. Starbucks for its part has been expanding its corporate footprint in Tennessee, another state that is sensible enough to avoid income taxes.

Meanwhile back in Olympia, the administration of the Democrat presiding over Washington’s latest frenzy of tax hiking is implicitly acknowledging that the real problem is spending. Gov. Bob Ferguson’s Office of Financial Management admits in a recent letter to state agencies: “To be direct, there will be significant budget shortfalls next biennium in both operating and transportation budgets.”

“Key contributing factors to our budget challenges include costs for providing essential services that are far outpacing revenue,” says the letter from director K.D. Chapman-See, who proceeds to blame everything under the sun except Mr. Ferguson and his Democratic predecessors, who created this fiscal mess.

But how can there be a budget problem now that the state imposes some of the heaviest tax burdens in the country? The letter admits:

"This year’s revenue forecasts will likely not provide sufficient support for the maintenance of current programs, let alone any expansions, despite recent tax code changes."

Now they tell us. The letter is also instructive because while many Democrats have dismissed legitimate concerns that the new exaction on high earners runs afoul of the state constitution, the Ferguson administration now seems rather unsure—though it has already earmarked much of the hoped-for revenue to fund other priorities:

"Revenue from the Millionaire’s Tax (Chapter 238 Laws of 2026) will not be collected until FY29, and 42% of the projected revenue from this new tax will go directly back to supporting small businesses, Washington families, and consumers. This law is also the subject of a court challenge and may also face potential ballot measures, the outcomes of which could impact the state’s receipt of revenue. In view of these factors, agencies should not assume funds from the Millionaire’s Tax are available for their requests in the 2027–29 biennium."

Before state bureaucrats spend any more time fighting over the new revenue they hope to extract from the state’s millionaires in 2029, they might want to see if any millionaires are still living in Washington.

-- Wall Street Journal

[PNW Conservative @PNWConservative]

More of what doesn’t happen is happening.

[Murray Hill Guy @MurrayHillGuy1]

Friend is visiting Seattle this weekend.

Here is his report:

Seattle nightlife might be the most cooked market in America.

Went out in Cap Hill with my buddy who’s a legitimate Chad. In NYC he’s batting over .500 on infield cold approaches.

Seattle? We went 0-for-15.

Girls with face tats, dyed green hair, three piercings, smoking cigs outside the bar were rejecting him and laughing like they were Victoria’s Secret models.

At least 25% of the girls were lesbians and my friend was still trying to recruit them away from their girlfriends like he was an SEC football coach.

I’ve never seen a dating market this brutal. Seattle nightlife needs a federal investigation.

Is Seattle the worst dating market in USA?

[Jonathan Choe @choeshow]

When Blackstone takes a major financial loss in Seattle, it’s a sign more pain is on the way.

[stevemur @stevemur]

The kind of stat that “FYI Guy” might be interested in, if journalism

@seattletimes

[Jeremy Harris @JeremyHarrisTV]

This situation is quite serious. They have to shut the power off to the rails and then figure out how to get the car out of there. The @Mariners are playing right now, so thousands of people will come out of the game and expect to get on the light rail to go home.

@komonews

[We Heart Seattle @weheartseattle]

Man suffering through opioid withdrawal on the streets of Seattle. He already has housing. The system isn’t failing because of a lack of beds , it’s failing because we refuse to address the root causes of addiction instead of just treating the symptoms. When we measure the wrong things, we get the wrong results. Time to stop wasting taxpayer dollars. @GovBobFerguson @MayorofSeattle

[Swann Marcus @SwannMarcus89]

People seem to be misinterpreting why Seattle is fucked. Seattle is not fucked because they over-regulate big business or because of the “millionaire’s tax.” They’re fucked because they overregulate small and mid-sized businesses which caused a massive localized inflationary spiral that is forcing out big businesses because labor costs are too high

Seattle massively over regulated the service sector by imposing gargantuan minimum wages on restaurants and delivery apps + implementing a zillion other regulations that caused service sector costs to soar. Seattle’s housing prices are actually *declining* but their inflation rate has been 1-1.5 points higher than the national average despite reduced housing costs. This is caused mainly by food service prices rising at 7% a year due to Seattle’s minimum wage policies and excessive service sector regulations. Inflation in Seattle is now 5% and nominal wage growth is 3%, meaning real wages fell 2% in the last twelve months

High local inflation forced big companies to pay artificially high wages because highly paid corporate workers expect wages to keep up with living costs. On top of that, Seattle has a payroll tax that almost exclusively applies to huge companies. Those big companies are therefore paying insane wages to do business in Seattle, whereas if they relocated, they could pay people the same real wages relative to local cost of living and save tens of millions a year in corporate labor costs alone

But here’s the thing: Because Seattle overregulated their small and midsize businesses, those businesses are now operating on razor thin margins and are reliant on highly paid corporate workers who can pay exorbitant prices in order to stay in business. So when a corporate office relocates out of Seattle, all of the local restaurants collapse because they no longer have a customer base who can afford the prices they have to charge due to Seattle’s regulatory environment

What this means is that as corporations cut payroll in Seattle the entire city’s service sector is imploding, which has resulted in localized stagflation. Their whole labor market is quickly evaporating and now they have 5.5% unemployment, 5% inflation, and -2% real wage growth.

None of this has anything to do with the “millionaire’s tax” because the companies are leaving before the people do. Why would companies care about a tax on ultra high incomes that doesn’t impact their cost of doing business?

[Ari Hoffman @thehoffather]

King County lost $2.19 billion in income as more than 68,000 tax filers moved away: report

The latest figures suggest King County may be exchanging higher-income taxpayers for lower-income newcomers

https://t.co/1Pg23ssIP4

[Future 42 @future42org]

'New Study: Washington Among Most Regulated States, With Measurable Economic Costs'

The Association of Washington Business had a study conducted on Washington state's regulatory environment, and the results point to a series of problems.

For starters; WA is ranked #8 most regulations in the U.S. at 200,000, but...
Of those 200k regulations, a whopping 45,000 of them are 'labor or workforce related', which is SIX TIMES the National Average.
On top of that, the study found that HALF of WA's regulations are 'duplicative or redundant'.

But the real eye opener that came out of this study:

"Washington-specific modeling suggests that each small or medium-sized business loses about 2.75 jobs annually due to compliance costs."

(Olympia needs a major course correction)

Via: @awbolympia
Link to Article: https://t.co/vgr3vQM53p

[Jason Rantz on Seattle Red @jasonrantz]

Sammamish listings up 250% as Seattle’s tech heartland empties out: ‘slow motion wealth transfer’ over income tax https://t.co/2n18EgowE5

[Ari Hoffman @thehoffather]

DEVELOPING: 1,395 of the 8,000 Meta layoffs that were announced last week are within King County, WA.

Over 30,000 teach jobs have been lost in the Seattle area since the beginning of the year.

Yet Democrats continue to insist that there isnt capital flight

[Ari Hoffman @thehoffather]

"There are nights here that there is more gunfire going on in Aurora than I heard in Iraq."

North Seattle resident David Patton discusses the spiking crime that led to neighbors setting up barriers to protect their streets from violence

[Ari Hoffman @thehoffather]

NEW: Spencer Pratt says he is going to send LA's homeless to Seattle.

"They're not homeless, they're drug addicts... These people have been bused in by scam rehabs, scam NGOs, scam homeless nonprofits."

"They're all going to Seattle, where the mayor will welcome them."

[Ari Hoffman @thehoffather]

KOMO POLL: 79% of Washingtonians would consider moving to a state with lower taxes.

Tell me again how wealth isn't leaving Washington state because of Democrats' taxes

[Future 42 @future42org]

When Governor Christine Gregoire left office in 2012, Washington state was 6th in the nation for tax competitiveness.

Today, we are a dismal 45th.

And if that isn't worrisome enough; our decent between 2020 and 2026 is the 2nd worst in the entire country, behind only Oregon.

WA is headed the wrong direction.

@janellefritts | @TaxFoundation
'Movers and Shakers in the 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index'
Article: https://t.co/JDOUHb2reA

[Jason Rantz on Seattle Red @jasonrantz]

Every time Washington Democrats announce a new tax, high earners don't pay it. They sell. A Seattle broker tracking 215 downtown condo buildings just published the data Olympia doesn't want you to see. Does this change how you think about staying in Washington?

[Future 42 @future42org]

Washington's new income tax is the final straw for Jon Bodwell, owner of Delta Camshaft.

Jon is the 2nd generation owner of this camshaft modification shop that has been in Tacoma for 48 years, but is selling the (graffiti covered) building and moving everything to Arizona. He cites "crime, taxes, and business climate" as reasons he is leaving, and frankly who can blame him?

If a business cannot make a profit in Washington state or has to deal with a hostile government, they are going to go where the grass is greener. Basic economics, which Progressive Democrats are trying to ignore.

@FoxBusiness
'Business owner makes tough decision to leave Washington after 48 years'

[Let's Go Washington @letsgowa]

The income tax is a bait and switch just like cap gains was. Find a place to sign your name to repeal the income tax here: https://t.co/RlDEditcPr.