Today’s quote comes to us from Seattle’s socialist mayor, Katy Wilson. It was made on April 14th during an event at Seattle University.
Here was her reaction to concerns that, if she raises taxes (as she fully intends to do), people who have/earn a lot of money – and thus would be the ones hit hardest – will leave the city:
“I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are, like, super overblown. And if — the ones that leave, like, bye.”
What you just read is a reprint of what I posted on May 1st, when I gave Mayor Wilson’s snide “bye” dismissal the Quote Of The Day.
Now we’ll fast forward.
Today I read this, excerpted from
Just months after Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson publicly urged a boycott of Starbucks at a workers rally (2) — telling the crowd, “I am not buying Starbucks, and you should not, too” — the company announced it will invest $100 million in a new Southeast headquarters in Nashville, bringing up to 2,000 jobs with it (3).
As Starbucks expands into Nashville, questions are already surfacing for the roughly 3,000 corporate employees based in Seattle’s SoDo headquarters. (5)
For many, Starbucks remains deeply tied to Seattle’s identity, from its global headquarters to the original Pike Place Market location that draws tourists year-round (6). But the expansion comes as the company recently laid off 69 Seattle-based employees, including baristas and shift supervisors, and announced additional store closures in the city, raising fresh concerns about its long-term footprint at home (7).
“They are the rock here of Seattle,” Edward Bunker, chef and owner of Lingon restaurant, told KOMO News (1). “We really need businesses to stay in Seattle.”
The article goes on to point out that the oppressive taxes in Seattle were a major component of the decision to move out:
“Seattle has such a higher tax burden than Nashville does,” Frost told Fox 13 Seattle, noting that Washington’s business and occupation (B&O) tax is applied to gross receipts rather than profits — a structure that can increase costs for large companies regardless of earnings.
Well, you got exactly what you should have expected, for exactly the reasons you should have expected, Mayor Wilson.
So wave “bye”, give us that smirk you gave us when you blew companies like Starbucks off…and don’t be surprised if it is not going to be the only one you’ll be waving “bye” to; not by a long shot.
Then explain to the thousands of workers out of jobs why your attitude was so great, so necessary….and hope that the voters of Seattle who put you in the Mayor’s office don’t start rethinking their decision.
