A Seattle business reporter is questioning why Starbucks is choosing to leave Washington and speculating that taxes could be a possible reason the coffee giant is expanding in Nashville over Washington.
“Start with taxes,” a Friday article in The Seattle Times entitled, “What’s Nashville have that we ain’t got in Seattle?” read. “Tennessee boasts the nation’s eighth-best tax climate for business, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation’s 2025 survey, which considers taxes on income, businesses, sales and property, and unemployment insurance rates. Washington state ranks 45th.”
Starbucks is appearing to lessen its presence in Seattle, acknowledging in March it would be closing five additional stores in the city. That move follows several closures in 2025, including the Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Capitol Hill.
In March, Washington state Democrats passed the “millionaires tax,” which Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson signed March 30. It is described as the state’s first-ever income tax, pushed by progressives and socialists and opposed by conservatives.
After its passage, The Wall Street Journal editorial board called the tax a “con” that will “inevitably capture the middle class.”
The new tax will impose a 9.9% income tax on households earning more than $1 million each year. The tax applies to any money earned after the first $1 million of someone’s annual income. It will take effect on Jan. 1, 2028, with the first payments due in April 2029, KOMO News reported.
In its piece, The Seattle Times suggested that Nashville might have looked more appealing to Starbucks than staying in Seattle.
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“And while Starbucks insists it’s keeping its Seattle headquarters, Tennessee’s lack of a personal income tax might make Nashville especially attractive to some of Starbucks’ high earners,” it read.
It continued, “At least six of Starbucks’ ‘named Executive Officers,’ including Niccol, earned at least $6 million or more in total compensation in fiscal 2025, according to the company’s 2026 proxy statement.”
The piece also highlighted that Nashville’s hourly wage is lower than Seattle’s.
“Better still for employers from high-cost states, Nashville’s talent comes at a bargain,” it read. “The average hourly wage in the greater Nashville area — $31 — is 5% below the national average and 28% below the Seattle area, according to 2024 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The gap is even greater for some skill positions, such as the IT roles that will make up more than half of jobs in Starbucks’ Nashville office.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to Starbucks for comment, and was referred to an April message from Sara Kelly, Starbucks chief partner officer, on its southeast expansion, which read in part, “The Nashville office will be a complement to our global and North America headquarters in Seattle where we will maintain a large presence.”
It continued, “Over the next five years, we expect to have 2,000 support jobs located in Nashville. The majority of our support teams continue to be based here in Seattle. Nashville-based roles will include a combination of net new roles being created to support growth, some in-sourcing as we move some work from contract workers and professional service providers to full-time Starbucks partner roles, and in some cases, moving select teams from Seattle to Nashville as we did recently with our Sourcing teams.”
