Seattle’s mayor, known for her progressive stance, recently drew attention with a light-hearted comment about affluent residents potentially leaving the city. Her remark followed the introduction of a new state tax targeting the extremely wealthy.

During an event hosted by Seattle University earlier this month, 43-year-old Katie Wilson made her playful comment.

“I think the claims that millionaires are gonna leave our state are super overblown. If the ones that leave, ‘bye,'” said Wilson, a Democratic Socialist, as she waved her hand dismissively.

The audience responded enthusiastically, applauding her candidness.

Wilson’s quip came in response to a question about whether progressive tax policies are straightforward and effective solutions.

She acknowledged the challenges of implementing such policies but expressed support for the state’s recent tax on millionaires, designed specifically to target the ultra-wealthy.

The tax, which will not come into effect until the 2028 tax year, was signed into law at the end of March by Governor Bob Ferguson. 

Under the new state law, those earning over $1 million per year will be slapped with a 9.9 percent hike, which Ferguson deemed ‘historic’.

Katie Wilson was speaking at an event put on by Seattle University earlier this month when she made the wisecrack

Seattle’s iconic Space Needle and Museum of Pop Culture were blighted by tent encampments when the Daily Mail visited earlier this year

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.

‘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. 

On Tuesday, 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. 

Microsoft president Brad Smith raised the alarm on the state of the business climate in Washington last year

Wilson speaks after being sworn in as the new mayor during a ceremony at City Hall in Seattle, Washington, U.S., January 2, 2026

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.

Seattle, especially the downtown area, has in recent times become an open-air drug market littered with encampments and users abusing hard drugs on the street.

On a visit to Seattle earlier this year, the Daily Mail found its downtown, Beacon Hill, South of Downtown (SODO) and Chinatown neighborhoods were all filled with drug users on street corners, in bus stops and huddled in doorways.

Those hooked on drugs and living on the streets heaped praise on Wilson after she allegedly told cops not to arrest people for abusing substances on the street. 

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

Wilson was accused of telling Seattle Police not to arrest people for taking illegal drugs in public after being sworn in. 

She denied doing so, but works directly with Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans, who has made it much harder for police to charge illegal drug users.

A memo filed by Evans on January 1 says anyone arrested for doing drugs in public must be referred to the city’s ‘LEAD’ diversion program, which tries to offer addicts treatment.

Evans, who is also a Democrat, added that only users whose circumstances are very ‘acute or problematic’ should be referred to her office.