You have read that Washington is ready to punish its wealthiest residents, and the mayor of Seattle has taken a pretty flippant response to the idea that new taxes may drive them away. Mayor Katie Wilson made the remark during a filming of a Seattle U Conversation episode.
INSANE. Seattle’s Socialist Mayor responds to exodus of wealth from Washington state by saying “BYE” … then laughing. We’re doomed. pic.twitter.com/gP8CbPkqEl
— Brandi Kruse (@BrandiKruse) April 29, 2026
The NY Post reported that:
Wilson was asked if she believed progressive taxes were an “easy” and “promising” solution to the tax climate in the area. She said she never thought they were easy, but said she was excited about the millionaire tax that passed in the state.
“In general, we still have the very regressive tax system, and my office is doing a lot of work to look at what our options are in terms of progressive taxation,” she said. “We do have more flexibility at the city, at the county, in terms of our taxing authority. And at the same time, I believe what I said before, which is that, it’s not good for Seattle’s business environment, for example, for the cost of doing business in downtown Seattle to be wildly out of step with, for instance, neighboring Bellevue,” she said.
Wilson said that she was looking at progressive tax options that don’t increase the cost of employing people in Seattle.
“We have a large structural budget deficit at the city that we’re going to have to figure out how to deal with in this upcoming budget cycle,” she added. “And my budget office, budget staff are hard at work trying to figure out both how we can use our revenue as effectively and efficiently as possible. And I think similar refrain to the executive, right, if there are programs that aren’t fulfilling their promise that aren’t working, like we’re not going to be afraid to end them, right?”
“And so I think that being a progressive doesn’t necessarily mean that we keep layering on spending, and we never stop doing things, right?” Wilson continued. “So I think it’s — that’s really important. And at the same time, we probably aren’t going to need new revenue.”
Action Line: When politicians’ response to the prospect of their most productive people leaving is “Like, bye,” it should be no surprise when cities fail to deliver for residents. The cities and states of America are laboratories of democracy, and citizens are free to move to where they, and their money, are treated best, places like Your Survival Guy’s 2026 Super States. No one should be surprised when their response to punitive taxation is “like, bye.” Click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
Watch the full show here:
