Democrats New Tax BACKFIRES, Wealthy ALREADY FLEE To Republican States
Tim Pool argues that progressive tax policies in blue states like Washington, California, and New York are triggering a wealth exodus to Republican states such as Florida and Texas. He highlights Howard Schultz's March 10, 2026, move from Seattle to Miami following a proposed 9.9% millionaire tax, alongside similar billionaire wealth taxes in California. Citing reports from the New York Times and Fox News, Pool contends these measures backfire by driving away figures like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg while increasing consumer costs. Ultimately, he concludes that taxing the wealthy reduces revenue and that governments should instead focus on taxing the poor. [Automatically generated summary]
Washington has passed their wealth tax and already the ultra wealthy are leaving.
And it's funny to see the cope and the seethe from these progressives who have advocated for higher taxes on the assets of individuals, resulting in them leaving the state.
Now, in this instance, this is an income tax actually on the money these people are bringing in.
Apparently, it's one of the first times, if not the first time, Washington has actually done this.
And we are seeing it now in every major blue state.
California, massive budget deficit, trying to tax the rich.
New York, trying to pass a wealth tax, massive budget deficit.
They have tried over and over again to explain to people that we must tax the rich and it doesn't work.
We are now experiencing what is called the wealth exodus from these big blue states.
And what's happening?
Well, the individuals who once backed these progressive causes are running away and refusing to get behind them.
Why?
Because they don't want to pay for other people's stuff.
In response across social media, leftists are making excuses to why this will be totally fine, citing states like Massachusetts where they tax the rich and they actually made more millionaires because they don't seem to understand that that's called inflation.
When you tax an individual who has no choice but to stick around, he's going to increase costs.
So at the same time, you're saying, look, they raised taxes and now there's more millionaires.
Wouldn't that be a problem for your progressive ideology because you want there to be less millionaires?
The issue is this.
When you increase taxes, you increase costs.
People are either going to leave or they're going to raise prices to accommodate and then everything gets expensive for everybody else because all that matters.
In all of this is just, are people of capability willing to do the work?
And if the answer is no, ain't nobody's going to fix your air conditioner anymore.
Then the Democrats come out and say, well, then we got to get someone who can do the jobs that people don't want to do.
But what happens when the job that someone doesn't want to do is like mechanical engineering?
And the reason they don't want to do it is because you're taxing them to oblivion.
So they leave or just give up.
Let's roll with it, baby, and break down exactly what's going on.
The New York Times talking about how people are already starting to flee Washington and they just passed this bill.
But hey, we don't got to look at this one state.
We can look at all the other states where these bills have backfired.
And if we take a look at the states that have done this in the past, you can see how it's going to negatively impact Washington.
Ergo, my friends.
By looking to the past, we can predict the future.
And yes, these bills backfire every single time.
There's something that these people don't know about.
It's called the laugher curve.
When you increase taxes, you decrease tax revenue.
Now, that seems counterintuitive, but it's actually pretty obvious when you think about it.
If you're taxing too much, economic activity slows down and the people who are actually trading stop trading and then there's nothing to tax.
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Let's start here with the Starbucks billionaire Howard Schultz leaving Seattle for Florida the same day Democrats passed the income tax bill.
The departure of a local icon highlights the growing tension between fiscal policy and capital mobility.
I love it.
Howard Schultz, the billionaire architect of the Starbucks Empire, has officially ditched his 40-year Seattle residence for the tax-free sanctuary of Miami, joining a seismic migration of America's ultra-wealthy fleeing new state-level levies.
Now, isn't that funny how they say it?
The 72-year-old business icon confirmed its relocation on 10th of March, 2026, the same day Washington state lawmakers advanced a landmark 9.9% millionaire tax bill.
By moving to Florida, Schultz joins a growing billionaire bunker in the Sunshine State, following tech Titans Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Is it Sergey?
These moves come as California and Washington push aggressive tax reforms that critics warn are driving the nation's primary wealth creators into a high-speed exit.
I welcome these people into Florida.
You want to know why?
Because now they're going to be on the Florida boot.
And so when these people, these tech Bezos, Zuckerberg, or otherwise, Google, and they're playing these dirty lefty games, well, they're under dirty lefty laws in California.
Now that they're in Florida, if they want to reap the benefits, they're going to have to fall in line with what Florida says.
And while Florida is far from perfect, it's pretty much the dang best, right?
This means that there's going to be pressure exerted from Florida law onto the businesses held by these individuals if they want to receive these tax benefits.
While the proposed California wealth tax is expected to raise $100 billion from 200 billionaires living in the golden state, that's a lot of billionaires, which would be used to fund public schools and food assistance programs, the Washington bill is expected to raise $4 billion annually and affect households earning $1 million annually.
Proceeds will also be used to fund schools, healthcare, and childcare.
The proposal now heads to the Senate for confirmation before going to Governor Bob Ferguson's desk.
The bill has to be signed by today to go into effect, and Ferguson has stated that he's looking forward to signing it.
Schultz shared his decision to move to Florida in a LinkedIn post the same day Democrats passed the bill.
So let's pull up our good friends on threads to see what they have to say.
But first, let me read what this billionaire said about his state.
Let's go quick.
44 years ago, Sherry and I made the cross-country trip from New York City to Seattle in our 1979 Audi, along with Jonas, our golden retriever.
We were starting a new life.
Sherry would be the breadwinner in the family, taking on career and design, and I started a new job on September 7th, 1918, 1982, at a place called Starbucks.
Back then, the Pike Place Starbucks only sold whole bean coffee.
Today, it's the most visited Starbucks in the world.
The history of the company is bound up in the very foundation, walls, and floorboards of our first store in the city's historic market.
The spirit of continuing forward has long underpinned our approach to life, et cetera, et cetera.
He says, we've built this, blah, blah, blah.
And we have moved to Miami for our next adventure together.
We are enjoying the sunshine of South Florida and its allure to our kids on the East Coast as they raise families of their own.
Like many other Seattle-based companies, Starbucks today stands on the shoulders of many Pacific Northwesterners who built the company.
They help shape the culture, the benefits, the brand contributing to the civic community and the public life of the city and the state.
It is our hope that Washington will remain a place for business and entrepreneurship to thrive, creating essential opportunity for those in Seattle and the surrounding areas.
Over the years, as Sherry and Guy grew our family and built Starbucks, we were witness astonishing development in Seattle, focusing on blah, We'll be forever grateful.
We get it, we get it, we get it.
Now, the argument is, of course, why does anyone go to Florida when they retire?
So you get a 401k, you pump it full of cash, you move to Florida, and when you take that money out, you don't got to pay income tax at the state level on it.
So people like to retire to the Sunshine State where it's warmer, you're less stressed out, and you can spend your money more freely.
Thus, older, wealthy guy is doing it.
I love this.
In this post from Ari Hoffman, he says, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz announces that his family is leaving Seattle for Florida the same day Democrats passed an income tax.
The wealth exodus is underway.
Democrats have killed Washington's economy.
First response, he moved before the tax package was passed.
You could have looked this up, but instead you decided to embarrass yourself in public.
They've been talking about passing this for some time.
Do you think that he didn't have to plan or prepare for his estate?
Come on.
I like this one.
Their world headquarters remain in Seattle, and Howard doesn't have an income that would be subject to this tax.
It's on income, not assets.
Massachusetts enacted a similar tax and brought in $5.7 billion in two years.
The number of millionaires rose 39% in that time.
I just love it.
These people say that millionaires and billionaires should not exist.
So why then have a policy with the inadvertent result of creating more millionaires?
Now, I know they might say, no, we're not saying that.
What we're saying is that we still want to get rid of the millionaires and billionaires, but they are undeterred by this.
I'm actually going to push back and say the reality is, if a guy owns a bunch of properties and he charges like a thousand bucks a month rent, we're just doing flat numbers, right?
And then you say, we're going to tax you on 10% of your income, more money going away.
He's going to say, okay, then I'm going to increase rent on all of my buildings to match the margins.
What these people don't understand because they're financially illiterate is that for a lot of these wealthy individuals, they have loans.
So for instance, if you're going to open a business, you don't usually, most of the time, just dump your own money into it.
You'll find investors or you'll go to banks and get lenders.
So let's say you want to buy a property to Airbnb.
Costs you a million dollars.
You then Airbnb it.
You now owe, you know, let's say you put 20% down.
So you got 800,000 remaining on the mortgage bill, but you go to the bank, you got a business plan.
We're going to Airbnb it.
We're going to make X amount of dollars.
And then we're going to take that money and we're going to apply it to the mortgage so we all make money from it.
I don't got to put up a million dollars up front.
You guys cover that cost.
Then I'm going to pay you with interest so you profit from this and I'm profiting at the same time.
Sounds good, right?
Well, then they come along, they come to the guy who started the business and say, you're making too much money off your network of Airbnbs, so we're going to increase taxes on you.
Well, this is what the financially illiterate don't understand.
The bank sometimes could come and then say, hey, your disposable income has dropped, meaning your debt to income ratio is now putting us, we're kind of scared.
They're taxing you more money, which means now instead of clearing half a million, you're clearing 400,000.
I know it's not 20%, but let's just say this.
The increased tax burden theoretically can put us in a position where we're uncomfortable with whether or not you're going to be able to pay back some of these loans because there is going to be a down season.
And while I'm trying to be fairly simplistic in how I explain this, the point is this.
Increasing a tax burden on an individual can shift the debt to income ratio, negatively impacting their ability to secure more loans and start more businesses.
Long story short, there are a million and one reasons why the business owner may then say, I have to make up this lost revenue.
I have prior contracts.
And so they then go to the Airbnb and they say, it's no longer 400 bucks a night.
It's now 475.
Or, you know, they increase those costs because Airbnb is going to have its fees and they want to make back 10%.
Then the individual who's coming to town who's going to use that Airbnb because they have to work and it's cheaper than a hotel says, all of the costs have just gone up.
And once again, the person may be a millionaire, but his buying power may be the same.
Now, the New York Times breaks it down.
A state of wealthy entrepreneurs passes a millionaires tax.
It'll be the first income tax in Washington, affecting an estimated 20,000 households.
Some of the wealthiest are leaving for Florida.
Indeed.
Lawmakers in Washington state have agreed to create an income tax on high earners called a millionaires tax by its supporters that could generate close to $4 billion annually if signed by the governor, a Democrat who said he backs the bill.
Critics worry it could lead to a wealth exodus, a concern underlined this week when one of Seattle's wealthiest residents, Howard Schultz, said on social media that he was moving to Florida.
The measure followed by Bezos, who did in 2023.
The measure to create the state's first income tax passed on Wednesday evening, one day before the end of the 26th season, session.
It would impose a 9.9% annual tax on personal earnings over a million dollars, which is projected to affect about 20,000 households.
That is nuts.
Let's play the game, baby.
If you make a million dollars, congratulations.
You're very comfortable.
But you're going to be giving old Uncle Sam something like 37% of that.
So you're going to take home.
Well, you're going to take home.
Let's just call about $650, right?
Then they say they want 10% on your earnings over $1 million.
So they're going to rip away another $100,000.
You will make $1 million and you will take home half of that.
Half.
That's insane.
They're going to be wrong.
It's not really 37%.
Let me clarify.
Because you're going to be paying something like 28 up to the first 70.
Then you're going to be paying something like, you know, 31 up to the first like 250.
And then after that, it's 37, making your effective rate somewhere going to be around like 350 or like three or like 330,000 from the million.
So ultimately, you're going to take, you're going to get between $500 and $600 off of the million dollars you earned.
Now, I already hear all these lefties saying, you got $600,000.
What are you worried about?
These are the posts that they've made.
No, yeah, FairPoint.
What are you worried about?
Right?
Sure.
But if you're telling me that I got to give you $100,000 a year, and that's just for $1 million, do you want $200,000 if I do $2 million?
Bro, if I make $2 million a year, I got $200,000.
That means I can buy a house anywhere.
Okay, I'm going to put 20% down in a million dollar house in Florida.
Done.
Why give the money to the state when I can just go to the bank and they're going to be like, what's your plan?
I'm going to buy a million dollar house, like on a waterfront property.
It'll be real nice.
$200,000 down on the million, 20%.
You guys cover the 800 and they're going to say, and you can afford to pay this every month.
Like, well, yeah, instead of giving 200 grand to the state, I'll just give it to you guys to pay down this loan in a couple of years.
And they go, okay.
Actually, the banks would prefer you didn't pay it down in a couple of years because they like those interest payments, but you could do that too.
Washington is just one of nine states that does not have an income tax, does not tax income.
And economists have consistently ranked it the state's current model, which relies on sales and business taxes among the most regressive.
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.
And this will make it worse.
Absolutely amazing.
Because what we can expect to happen is a budget deficit when the people who are generating most of the money are not going to be there to pay it.
And we don't just see this in Washington.
And I'm not just making this up.
I'm just looking at history from Cal Matters.
California is still in the red with another big budget deficit projected for next year.
Congratulations, your policies don't work.
Then we have this from Fox News.
Proposed California wealth tax drives billionaire exodus to Florida real estate.
Locals confirm.
And the funny thing is, this story is just from today.
So it's not just Washington, but California's wealth tax is driving billionaires.
And don't forget, New York is doing it too.
Blue states are committing tax suicide.
Their mania is contagious.
I absolutely love it.
Well, what does Fox News say about all that jazz?
Florida real estate managers and city officials are reporting an influx of California billionaires hoping to relocate due to concerns of potential wealth tax.
A recent initiative proposed by the Service Employees International Union, SEIU, United Healthcare Workers West would impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of California residents with assets exceeding $1 billion.
The proposal does not yet qualify for the November 2026 ballot.
Its push is already motivating billionaires to flee the Sunshine State.
Quote, the California guys, all billionaires are running away from the wealth tax.
Brett Harris of Bespoke Real Estate in Miami told the Los Angeles Times Wednesday, I have three things under contract north of $600 million.
Oh boy, let's break it down.
How do you determine net worth and how do you tax it?
Let's play a game, my friends.
I run a company and this company generates eight figures in revenue.
Now, let me split on.
I run several companies.
We do about eight figures per year in revenue.
We are well off.
Everybody's doing pretty well.
Most of the money goes into the costs.
Margins aren't super great, but they're not bad.
And what is the value of a business?
If you own a company that's making, you know, 10 to 15 million bucks per year, what is the estimated value of that business?
Well, the problem is it ranges depending on the sector.
In the tech sector, people often got away with a 10x evaluation.
It's massive.
And it was because people, well, technology is control and they believe that they'd make a lot of money off of it.
And many of them did.
So you start a company, you make an app, you generate $2 million in revenue, and then you were going somewhere and saying, I want 20 million for it, 10 times, or maybe even 15 times, which wasn't really typical, sometimes like four to five.
But it's an easy way to break down how we determine value of a company, and it's as simple as this.
What are your margins?
How much are you putting in your pocket?
First question.
After that, would you sell your company for, let's throw a ballpark?
So let's say there's a company that does a million dollars in profit every year.
The owner takes home that profit.
He doesn't take a salary.
He takes a small salary as the CEO.
Let's just call it like 200K.
And then he pulls another million.
So he's doing 1.2 million in income per year.
A million of it is profit.
And it's because there's fluctuations.
But you do got to pay yourself a reasonable salary.
So then someone comes to him and says, you're making a million bucks profit per year.
I'll give you $3 million for your company.
We'll buy it outright and take it over.
What's the man going to say?
What would you say?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on.
I already make $1.2 million per year.
What's $3 million going to get me?
I get $3 million right now.
So you're giving me three years of revenue up front, but then after that, I'm left high and dry, not interested.
Okay.
Well, I want to buy this.
So how do I get him to let it go?
I got to give him enough money that's going to secure him for several years and he's not going to have to worry about it.
What about $10 million?
And then the guy says, look, I don't have any immediate plans for $10 million.
It would be nice, but I already make a million bucks profit every year.
My costs are covered.
I'm putting $800,000 away into investments and savings.
I don't know what the $10 million is going to do for me.
And so this is where negotiations get a bit different.
They say, we'll give you 5%.
We'll buy a portion of it.
We'll pay you $10 million up front now.
And then the point is this.
How do you determine the value of a company to tax an individual with a wealth tax?
It's a privately owned company, and they say, you're generating this much money, so it must be worth this.
Well, here's a challenge for you.
We've talked about the wealth tax and its absurdities as it pertains to stock trading.
Jeff Bezos's net worth is tied up in Amazon stock.
But let's say your net worth is tied up in a private company based only on its hard assets.
So let's say my company has, let's remove revenue from the picture and base the value of the companies off of solely what it literally owns, the properties, the computers, and all of that.
Okay, for the business to operate, we need the property.
People have to work somewhere.
For the business to operate, we need the computers.
Based on all the property and computers, let's just do a flat general number.
It's not a real number.
And let's say your total assets within a company are $10 million.
What does that mean?
You don't have cash.
It means you have laptops people work on.
Okay, then the state says, we are going to tax the CEO, the private owner of the business, 5% on all of his assets.
But let's do this.
They said a billion, right?
Okay.
So let's say that billionaire says, no, no, hold on.
My company is privately owned.
It is not a publicly traded company.
How do you determine it's worth a billion dollars?
Well, they say you've got a bunch of cars, trucks, properties.
And they say you're going to have to sell stuff, right?
That's what the left has often said.
You have to sell stuff.
Okay.
Which locations do I have to liquidate and how many people to get fired so that I can find the money for my privately owned company?
Because we do not have stocks to sell.
You see the point.
Wealth tax has often been addressed by me and many others solely as it pertains to things like stocks.
But if someone's net worth is in private, private equity, and I don't mean the private equity companies everyone talks about, I'm saying it is privately owned.
The guy's a CEO of a company.
They open a bunch of locations and that's it.
And he says, I own exit percent of this.
They say, okay, well, your net worth now is a billion dollars and you owe us 50 million.
He's going to say, I don't have that.
I get paid a million bucks a year.
And they're going to say, well, you're a billionaire.
I'm a billionaire only because the company owns all of these things.
Okay, we'll sell them.
Okay, which business closes and who loses their job?
That's what they're arguing.
It doesn't work.
It doesn't make sense.
And that's why it is tax suicide and it's contagious.
The New York Post says, it's not just New York in California.
All across the nation, blue states are committing political and economic suicide by targeting millionaires with high taxes.
Who will suffer the most from this ideology-driven push to punish the wealthy?
Wage workers and the poor.
Leftist Democrat polls demanding new state tax-the-rich measures are ignoring economic reality.
Wealthy residents can and do move in response to unreasonable taxes, taking jobs, revenue, and even congressional representation with them.
In Washington state this week, a slim Democratic majority is on the verge of passing 9.9.
Well, we know they did, and we know it happened, and we know people are already leaving.
The millionaires tax will add to the burden and drive out business.
The exodus has already started.
Starbucks, the Seattle icon is moving much of its corporate management to income-free Tennessee.
Don't you just love it?
Let's go back to our friends over at Threads.
The world headquarters remains in Seattle.
Oh, heavens to Betsy.
Looks like they're already relocating because of high costs.
In-N-Out Burger left California, went to Tennessee.
Daily Wire went to Tennessee, but kind of expected that they're much more political.
Me, I'm in West Virginia, which has its problems, but we were looking at a bunch of states, Florida, maybe Texas.
The problem with Texas is, and I know this is a bit, I love the word esoteric, but let's just say niche.
The raid on the Lodge poker club has like basically ended any potentiality that we will come here.
And it's not just about that I like poker.
It's that my wife and I fear a state that will shut a business down without just cause or any legal authority to do so.
And so the presumption right now, as we don't know, is that the state authorities raided a legitimate business, a social club and restaurant, and shut them down without giving real reason as to why and no one knows what happened.
So yeah, I'm definitely not investing in a state that's going to do that.
However, that being said, Texas is kind of purple and a lot of people are arguing, you know, you should go there.
And a lot of people are coming here, but Florida seems to be the much better place to be.
Don't get me wrong.
The government basically does this everywhere.
My friends, if history is any indication, these taxes are going to destroy these places.
It's happening in New York.
They're already suffering a major budget deficit.
And now Zorhan Mamdani is talking about taxing the poor.
Once again, another, another story for me to give you about how these regressive taxes are only going to hurt poor people.
I ask you this, Washington.
When the millionaires and the billionaires leave because they don't want to pay this income tax, because if you're asking, give you $100,000 or move, I got to be honest.
I got a lot more than $100,000.
But if the state came to me and said, we're going to take that from you, I'd say, you know, to be honest, that $100,000 can easily relocate me.
I can use that to buy a $500,000 house, 20% down, and then it's going to cost only a couple grand to move out of your state.
So if that's the game you're going to play, I don't need to be here.
Now, some will argue, well, but you're just one person.
Yes, there are very few wealthy individuals.
So when I leave, who do you think they're going to tax to fix their budget problems?
Oh, that's right.
The poor.
I'll put it simply for all you lefties.
Which would you rather try to do?
Convince one person to give you $1 million or convince 1 million people to give you $1?
I'm going to level with you.
Ain't no way you're getting a million dollars out of somebody.
Watch Shark Take.
So let's put it like this.
You will make more money walking around any city asking for a dollar than you will going to the business district and asking a man to randomly give you a million.
Not to mention it's illegal.
Not completely, but there's a ton of regulations and legalities against doing that.
But again, I'll say it like this.
You go to one guy and you say, give me the million dollars, and it's a long shot bet.
It's not going to happen.
It's going to be like, why would I give it to you?
And you might be like, I'm trying to make a, I got to be honest, if you went around and said, I want to be a millionaire by asking a million people for $1, people would laugh and be like, yeah, sure, here's a dollar.
What do I care?
So ultimately, if you're the government and you want to make money, what's easier?
Getting into a protracted legal battle with a bunch of wealthy individuals who will just leave the state in the end, so there's no winning, or taxing the poor people who can't afford to move anyway.
Good luck.
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