Washington State's proposed 9.9% "millionaire's tax" is rattling Seattle's tech and sports worlds — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has privately signaled that landing a Sonics expansion team depends on whether the state can attract the right investors, while Kraken owner Samantha Holloway warns the tax is already pushing wealthy residents to Florida. Meanwhile, street outreach workers in Seattle and San Francisco are publicly contradicting the city's housing-first approach, reporting that many people living on the streets already have taxpayer-funded apartments — pointing to addiction, not housing supply, as the real crisis.
Washington State legislators are building a tax regime so hostile that NBA investors are spooked and founders are planning their exits.
Street outreach workers from SF to Seattle confirm what politicians refuse to admit: half of people using drugs in public already have apartments.