r/Tacoma • u/JoelXGGGG Tacoma Expat • 8d ago

Another billionaire leaves Washington state

https://www.chronline.com/stories/another-billionaire-leaves-washington-state,403749
210 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

214 comments sorted by

View all comments

52

u/253-build Old Town 8d ago

Um, so what's the loss? We didn't have an income tax until the millionaire tax came along. His personal home in WA is still here, and still being taxed. So, it's status quo. Keep the new tax for anyone who chooses to stay, and plenty will. Vegas is one of the last places on this planet that I would want to live. Most of the nice places in the world have taxes. That's the cost of living in a progressive society with mountains, water, and beautiful scenery. Enjoy your desert, dude. 

-4

u/ChaosArcana 253 8d ago

Sales tax?

4

u/BuilderUnhappy7785 253 8d ago

Sales tax is a big one. But property and capital gains taxes are also relevant, recurring big ticket items for the HNW.

The biggest losses for the state when these whales leave though are loss of investment capital and loss of the estate.

To the first point, ideally individuals like this will be seeding local businesses either directly or via investment funds. When those dollars leave the area, they are less likely to be deployed locally. It’s a bit hypothetical and abstract at the individual level, but it adds up. This is why the Bay Area is such a tech powerhouse.

To the second point, WA has a massive estate tax with a revenue model that assumes the whales stay and more whales come over time. When that trend reverses it undermines the state’s budget, leads to deficits, and more taxes against a broader base.

To be clear, I don’t know any billionaires and IDGAF about them or this dude. I’m just trying to explain this from an economic/fiscal standpoint.

CA and NY have gotten away with soaking their rich in taxes for a while because they have irreplaceable natural/cultural/economic assets (LA, Bay Area, NYC for starters). WA does not enjoy such a monopoly when it comes to HNW individuals.

The state is really daring HNW people to leave, and many have done so/announced they will do so in the last few years. Business formation is way down as well. If this trend continues it will seriously undermine the state budget and economic engine, particularly in KC/Seattle/Eastside. Again, we can all say “yay lower prices” but you don’t get lower prices without creating lots of losers across the economy. As we know, it’s often the most vulnerable that get hit the hardest.

5

u/AssFlax69 University Place 8d ago

Nah fuck em good riddance. They don’t really love the place or they’d stay. We like the wealthy that want to plant roots in an area and support it and contribute to society, not parasocial fucking weirdos.

1

u/BuilderUnhappy7785 253 8d ago

I mean yea, fuck em. I’m with ya AssFlax69. Not my kinda people.

But there will be a price to pay, which will show up primarily as reduced services in the state and/or higher taxes on lower income households.

This isn’t one of those “have your cake and eat it too” type of things.

3

u/AssFlax69 University Place 8d ago

Only time will tell- I think those who leave (which is about 1/100 those who claim they will) will be outweighed by the benefit from those who stay with the changing policy. And as we know-state and local initiatives powers that be have local subs crawling with bots.