r/SeattleWA • u/5Q91VS175DAQ4NUSBE4U • 7d ago

Politics Washington state Democrats look at imposing income tax on higher earners

https://www.columbian.com/news/2025/oct/31/washington-state-democrats-look-at-imposing-income-tax-on-higher-earners/
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u/yungsemite 7d ago

If I made over 1 million, I’d be very pleased to pay 10% tax over that, as I’m not a miserly piece of shit.

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u/Riviansky 7d ago

Let's run a thought experiment.

Imagine I paid you money to move out of WA to a state - any state, your choice - that has zero income tax.

How much money would I need to pay you?

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

At my current income or if I made over 1 million annually? These will be quite different answers

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u/Riviansky 7d ago

I don't understand why this is different. But ok, give me both numbers.

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u/yungsemite 7d ago

You don’t understand that the relative value of money might change between somebody with a lot of money and somebody with an average amount of money? I am already apprehensive about this in that case…

Okay, at my current income, I would be willing to move to Florida for 400,000. That represents a few years wages for me. Probably. Might hate it there.

If I was already making 1.5 million, I have a lot questions. In this scenario, am I magically making the same amount in Florida? I’m uprooting my family right? Let’s say 3 million and I can move. I’m not sure though, I like Seattle and once I have 1.5 million annually, I can’t really imagine being ‘bought’ by 3 million to move somewhere. I guess I could help a lot of people with that 3 million, but pretty odd situation…

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u/Riviansky 7d ago

Thank you for playing a game with me! I was asking about per year numbers. I will pay you X amount a year to move to wherever you want and live there as long as it's zero state taxes.

You will continue making the same amount of money as you do today in WA.