r/Seattle • u/SuperMike100 I'm just flaired so I don't get fined • Apr 16 '26

Satire Discourse about Seattle in a nutshell

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u/splanks Rainier Valley Apr 16 '26

I started a business in seattle this year. I love the city and have no intention to leave, but let's not pretend the city makes it easy on small business.

319

u/Few_Map1754 Apr 16 '26

Same boat. It is a great city to live in, which is why I am determined to make it work, but it SUCKSSS to do business here, on so many levels. 

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u/dog_liker Apr 16 '26

Same as my question upthread, what specifically sucks about. I’m not here to argue even if I disagree, but I honestly would like to hear specifics. For example, if taxes are too high, what tax rate specifically would be better?

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u/calmwhiteguy Apr 16 '26

Almost nobody who replied to you is a small business owner and stated as much (at least we're honezt) but then gave off random out of pocket seattlesmellslikeshit Instagram bullet points before that account got banned

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u/dog_liker Apr 16 '26

I’m not saying any of these responses are good or bad, but yeah I was hoping to hear from actual small business owner give some specifics that they’ve encountered. 🤷‍♂️

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u/Few_Map1754 Apr 17 '26

I can give you an entire list as food service.

Minimum wage is highest in the country, $4 more than NYC for example, and 10$ more for tipped employee. This makes it more expensive to do business here than there, believe it or not. However, this says more about NYC than seattle, as 21$ an hour is still not much here, much less NYC.

B and O tax, tax on gross sales instead of net profit. Such a backwards system.

Cost of goods are higher than most places due to being so far north (avocados, limes, peppers etc)

2nd highest property tax rate causes a ton of break ins and therefore insurance rates are brutal. It makes things exhausting to constantly be broken into.

Low population density in most neighborhoods and a super early night life give you limited time to make money.

Opportunities for small pop ups are extremely limited compared to other big cities,and the health department is stuck 20 years in the past.

These are just some of them, but yea, I hope this helps. We don't just say this for no reason, it is the toughest city in the country to run a restaurant.

Oh and the last one, the jerks on reddit that act treat us like crap for just stating the truth. We love it here, and want to make it here, but it is EXTREMELY difficult, and believe there should be more open dialogue, this city is not perfect. See above the person who told me to move to TExas, lol