Ex-Washington Governor Expresses Outrage Over Controversial Millionaires’ Tax Proposal

Washington’s former Democratic governor has criticized her party’s millionaire tax, citing an exodus of affluent residents while Seattle grapples with persistent crime issues.

Christine Gregoire, who served as governor from 2005 to 2013, addressed the impact of state tax policies at a recent business summit. She questioned whether the Democratic-controlled state legislature fully comprehends the repercussions of their tax strategies on the state.

“Honestly, I don’t think they do,” Gregoire remarked, referring to the estate tax, which briefly soared to an unprecedented 35%, the highest in the nation, before being reduced to 20%.

Currently, Washington shares the top spot for the highest estate tax rate in the U.S. with Hawaii and has implemented a 9.9% tax on household incomes exceeding $1 million.

Gregoire expressed hope that these developments would prompt a reevaluation among Washington’s Democrats.

“The reality is,” she warned, “those individuals are not without options. They will simply choose not to pay by relocating.”

Gregoire added: ‘When they leave, they stop paying capital gains. When they leave, they stop giving significantly to philanthropy, which would otherwise be necessary by government. So you understand, do you see the consequences of what you’re doing? And the answer is no.’

The former governor believes the problem is that there are no Democrats in the state house with any business experience or awareness of how their policies hurt small businesses. 

‘I would suggest to you, we don’t really have an income problem. We have a spending problem, and we’re answering it by stacking one more tax, one more rule, one more regulation,’ she said. 

‘And the one thing that the business community doesn’t need is that lack of predictability. That’s how businesses grow, that’s how they thrive. That’s not healthy for our business community at all.’

The millionaires’ tax was passed earlier this year, but will not take effect until January 1, 2028. 

Longtime Seattle fixture Starbucks announced shortly after that they would move 2,000 corporate jobs to a new headquarters in Nashville. 

Gregoire is unlikely to get any sympathy from Seattle’s new socialist Mayor Katie Wilson.

The Daily Mail was in the Emerald City in January as Seattle drug addicts praised the city’s new mayor for allegedly telling cops not to arrest people doing illegal substances on the crime-ridden city’s streets.

One 36-year-old local, who gave his name as Brandon, told the Daily Mail that Wilson is ‘cool’ after her office and Seattle’s progressive city attorney Erika Evans reportedly plotted to avoid prosecuting most public drugs use cases.

Brandon, who lives on the streets because he prefers them to his taxpayer-funded apartment, said of Wilson’s new plans: ‘They tried to do that already during Covid. We went buck wild! I’m not gonna lie. We blew it up.’

Clearly excited by a return to the lawless summer of 2020 when a huge swathe of downtown Seattle was taken over by anarchists, fentanyl and meth user Brandon said the government ‘should not be going around and telling everybody what to f**king do.’

Last month, 43-year-old Wilson joked that she would welcome the departure of high earners from her beleaguered city.

‘I think the claims that millionaires are gonna leave our state are super overblown, if the ones that leave, “bye,”‘ the Democratic Socialist said while waving her right hand. 

The remark was warmly received by the audience, who applauded her for the statement. 

Her response came after being questioned over whether or not progressive tax stances are an ‘easy’ and ‘promising’ solution. 

Wilson contended that implementing such changes was not easy but welcomed the recent millionaire tax in the state, which is aimed at the super-rich. 

The move comes after Microsoft president Brad Smith raised the alarm on the state of the business climate in Washington last year.  

He told KOMO News: ‘I’m probably more worried right now about the business climate in Washington than at any point over the last 30 years.

Last month, 43-year-old Wilson joked that she would welcome the departure of high earners from her beleaguered city

‘If other people are paying for jobs to leave and we’re taxing them to stay, that will make everything harder.’

State Republicans criticized the move all the way up until Ferguson signed it in, warning that large corporations like Starbucks and T-Mobile would leave the state. 

Ferguson said that he had a ‘lengthy’ conversation with Starbucks after they announced they plan to build a new headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. 

He told reporters: ‘Starbucks is an important part of the fabric of our community here in Washington state, to put it mildly’, adding that he would support the firm ‘in every way possible’.

Several other businesses, including Amazon and Meta, have already cut jobs in the state.

Wilson is now in charge of the city, where Starbucks was founded in 1971, after being voted in last year.

That was despite critics labeling her privileged and out of touch after it emerged she regularly receives checks from her professor parents to pay for childcare. 

Wilson and her husband spend $2,200 per month on daycare for their toddler, and another $2,200 to rent their apartment, it emerged during her campaign.

She acknowledged her privileged upbringing and said she became aware of it while attending public schools, where she had friends without the same means.