{"id":17860,"date":"2026-03-11T03:47:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T10:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=17860"},"modified":"2026-03-14T04:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:00:07","slug":"a-state-of-wealthy-entrepreneurs-passes-a-millionaires-tax-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=17860","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;A State of Wealthy Entrepreneurs Passes a \u2018Millionaires\u2019 Tax\u2019&#8221;, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/planetearthfdn.org\/news\">Back to News<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"article-summary\">It would be the first income tax in Washington, affecting an estimated 20,000 households. Some of the wealthiest are leaving for Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/anna-griffin\">Anna Griffin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>March 11, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Listen\u00a0\u00b7 3:39 min<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/12\/multimedia\/12nat-wash-millionaire1-wbtz\/12nat-wash-millionaire1-wbtz-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" alt=\"Howard Schultz seated behind a microphone and wearing a suit and clasping his hands in front of him.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks chief executive, said on social media that he was moving to Florida.Credit&#8230;Kenny Holston\/The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Lawmakers in Washington State have agreed to create an income tax on high earners, called a \u201cmillionaires\u2019 tax\u201d by its supporters, that could generate close to $4 billion annually if signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson, a Democrat who has said he backs the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Critics worry it could lead to a wealth exodus \u2014 a concern underlined this week when one of Seattle\u2019s wealthiest residents, the former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz, said on social media that he was moving to Florida, following the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who left Washington in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The measure to create the state\u2019s first income tax passed on Wednesday evening, one day before the end of the 2026 session. It would impose a 9.9 percent annual tax on personal earnings over $1 million, which is projected to affect about 20,000 households.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Washington is one of just nine states that does not tax income, and economists have consistently ranked the state\u2019s current model, which relies on sales and business taxes, as among the most regressive in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tax structure also has not kept up with spending, and state lawmakers are currently trying to close a budget gap estimated at $10 billion to 12 billion over the next four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lawmakers plan to spend the bulk of the money generated by the new tax on core government services. After months of negotiations over the precise details, they also agreed to devote 5 percent of the new revenue to child care programs and early learning opportunities and, to help ensure the governor\u2019s support, to expand a tax credit for lower-income families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wealthy residents and entrepreneurs have long been drawn to Washington because of its lack of an income tax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/12\/multimedia\/12nat-wash-millionaire-bezos-plkb\/12nat-wash-millionaire-bezos-plkb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" alt=\"Jeff Bezos walking through a hallway near other men.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, left Washington in 2023.Credit&#8230;Tom Brenner for The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf a Starbucks or a Boeing or other people start to diminish their presence in Washington State, guess what happens?\u201d said Andrew Barkis, a Republican lawmaker from Thurston County, during the State House\u2019s 24-hour debate on the tax this week. \u201cThose high-paying jobs? They are going to leave. It is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a LinkedIn post announcing his move, Mr. Schultz wrote that he hoped \u201cWashington will remain a place for business and entrepreneurship to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The millionaires\u2019 tax would not begin generating revenue until 2029, and even that timeline could slip. Supporters of the tax anticipate an effort to block it by ballot measure and legal challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A legal fight could provide a chance to overturn a 1933 decision in which the Washington Supreme Court ruled that income counts as property. That decision has effectively blocked a graduated income tax in the state, whose Constitution requires property taxes to be \u201cuniform.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Voters in Washington have rejected an income tax 10 times since then. But public sentiment in the state has been turning against the wealthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2024, voters refused to overturn a capital-gains tax on stock and bond profits over $250,000, which legislators had created several years earlier. Last fall, residents of Seattle and several of its suburbs elected slates of progressive candidates who talked openly of wealth redistribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During floor debates this week, Democratic lawmakers noted that many of the state\u2019s affluent taxpayers had benefited from President Trump\u2019s federal tax cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMaybe they won\u2019t mind contributing here at home,\u201d said Brianna Thomas, a Democratic State House member from West Seattle. \u201cMaybe they\u2019ll be happy to stay here and invest in the community that has given them the opportunity to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/anna-griffin\">Anna Griffin<\/a>&nbsp;is the Pacific Northwest bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of Washington, Idaho, Alaska, Montana and Oregon.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back to News It would be the first income tax in Washington, affecting an estimated 20,000 households. Some of the wealthiest are leaving for Florida. By&nbsp;Anna Griffin March 11, 2026 Listen\u00a0\u00b7 3:39 min Lawmakers in Washington State have agreed to create an income tax on high earners, called a \u201cmillionaires\u2019 tax\u201d by its supporters, that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17860"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17865,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17860\/revisions\/17865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}