Washington Democrats pushed a near-double-digit top income tax and a prominent business leader says he’s taking his family and private office out of the state, while the company he once helped build shifts corporate presence toward friendlier territory.

Washington’s new tax law, driven by a Democratic supermajority, puts a 9.9 percent income tax on earners above $1 million, and the political fallout is already visible. Howard Schultz announced he and his family have moved to Miami and that their private family office will relocate, leaving Seattle’s high-tax climate in the rearview. This isn’t just a personal decision; it’s a signal that policy choices can reshape where wealth, jobs and executives choose to live and work. The debate now centers on whether taxing the wealthy in one state simply moves opportunity to another.

Schultz explained the family’s move in a long LinkedIn message reflecting on four decades of ties to Seattle and Starbucks, and he made clear the foundation’s work in the city will continue even as the private office relocates. The story illustrates a broader trend: companies and founders weigh state tax burdens and business climates when deciding where to base operations. Lawmakers who favor high rates should expect consequences that go beyond campaign rhetoric.

Democrats, who have a supermajority, passed legislation to impose a 9.9 percent income tax on those earning more than $1 million a year. That figure is significant enough to change personal and corporate calculus for relocation, especially when neighboring states offer lower or no income tax. For families and executives with mobile assets, a rate approaching 10 percent narrows the incentive to remain in high-cost, high-tax cities. The move is already drawing reactions from business leaders and state officials around the country.

Forty-four years ago, Sheri and I made the cross-country trip from NYC to Seattle in our 1979 Audi along with Jonas our Golden Retriever. We were starting a new life. Sheri would be the breadwinner in the family, taking on a career in design. And I started a new job on September 7, 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—in business, in philanthropy and most importantly, as a family. For those of you who know us well, we have entered the “retirement” phase of our lives. (A term we are both just getting used to.) Last year we traveled to dozens of places around the world—places we were too busy to see when building Starbucks and raising kids. 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 the many Pacific Northwesterners who built the company. They helped shape the culture, the benefits and the brand, contributing to the civic, community and public life of the city and 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 Sheri and I grew our family and built Starbucks globally, we were witness to the astonishing development of Seattle. We focused on doing our part to help those at risk and facing hard times in our city. In 1990, Sheri started the Schultz Family Foundation, launching critical work to help others in our community and beyond—work that has grown in scale and impact with each passing year. We have entrusted the leadership of the Foundation to our dear friend Vivek Varma with a mandate to accelerate our philanthropic investments to drive meaningful change. While our private family office will move to Miami, our Foundation will continue operations in Seattle.

We will be forever grateful for the memories made in Seattle and the relationships built along the way. To the family, friends and partners who made Seattle our home for so many years, thank you.

Beyond the family move, the company itself is signaling a shift. Starbucks announced plans to open a corporate office in Nashville and to offer relocation services for some corporate employees, part of a broader plan to expand into the South and Northeast. According to Fox Business, that new office will be established later this calendar year as a strategic Southeast presence. This kind of corporate dispersal reduces the concentration of high-paying headquarters jobs in one high-tax city.

“To support these ambitions, we have made the decision to establish a strategic presence in the Southeast region of the U.S., and will be opening an office in Nashville, Tennessee, later this calendar year,” the company said. That statement underlines a deliberate strategy to diversify corporate geography and tap into regional talent pools. When firms say they will help employees relocate, it becomes easier for leadership to rebalance where functions live.

“Companies across the nation recognize that Tennessee’s strong values and fiscally-conservative approach are good for business, and we are proud to welcome another Fortune 500 company like Starbucks to our state,” Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said in a statement last week. State leaders who cut taxes and keep regulations predictable use those policies to attract employers and expand job opportunities. The contrast is clear: fiscal restraint invites investment, while higher tax rates can push it away.

This episode is a practical reminder that policy has consequences. Lawmakers who champion steep taxes should be ready to explain why pushing people and jobs out of state is a good trade-off. For voters watching where jobs and families migrate, the lesson will be measured not in slogans but in paychecks and relocations. Public officials can either make their states a magnet for growth or a source of capital flight; the choice is theirs.