John Braun: Democrats insist on taking state’s job creators for granted
Friday, September 5, 2025
One of our state’s most prominent employers, Microsoft, recently had to call police to remove several anti-Israel protesters who had taken over the company president’s office in Redmond.
Only several days prior, nearly 20 protesters were arrested after occupying and vandalizing other property on the same campus.
If there was any doubt before that Microsoft draws a line between expressing political views and behavior that is threatening or disruptive, it should be clear now.
Common sense suggests Microsoft is also willing to draw the line in other categories — like taxes and regulations. Unfortunately, Olympia’s majority Democrats seem determined to extract even more money from those who can take their employees or their assets to other states.
It’s as though they want to keep pushing to find where the line is, and don’t care about the consequences if they go too far.
This year, Democrats got closer than ever to imposing a so-called “wealth” tax that would crush innovation in our state. Although the bill was opposed by all Republicans, it was approved by the Senate majority on the final day of our session and has support from House Democrat leaders, so it will be back.
They also took a shot at expanding the intensely unpopular Seattle “payroll” tax, which in truth is a tax on jobs, into a statewide tax. It would hit the thousands of Amazon employees who were relocated to Bellevue to avoid the Seattle tax, as well as high-income employees of other companies — like Microsoft. Look for that bill to return also.
While the proposed taxes on innovation and jobs didn’t become law, Democrats did rush a business-and-occupation tax increase through. At $5.6 billion over four years, it’s the largest piece of the majority’s $12.2 billion tax package.
Prior to the final tax votes, the non-partisan Washington Policy Center shared its finding that our state had moved from having the nation’s sixth best business-tax climate in 2014 to the fifth worst.
That’s a huge drop in less than a decade, and the business climate will be even less friendly when the new B&O tax hike — which in Washington applies to the gross, not the net — kicks in Oct. 1.
It’s no surprise the latest employer survey by the Association of Washington Business found 58% of those responding describe their overall tax burden as a major challenge. The poll, conducted about a month ago, also had 69% of respondents ranking taxes as the most important public-policy issue facing the state.
Microsoft has even more reason to be unhappy. Democrats made sure the B&O tax increase will take an extra bite from large companies and those in the advanced-computing sector. Microsoft checks those boxes too.
It’s worth noting that while majority Democrats were starting to move their business-tax hike through, Microsoft confirmed its purchase of 300 acres of undeveloped land, close to where a similar amount of raw acreage was bought in 2023.
While a photo of the latest buy looks like it could be in eastern Washington, both acquisitions were in northern Nevada. That area is already home to its Americas Operations Center, described as the backbone of the company’s global business operations.
I’m not hinting that Microsoft has had enough of Washington’s increasingly inhospitable business climate and is planning to move its operations out of state.
However, this is a timely reminder of how portable things can be in the business and financial worlds, a fact our Democrat colleagues seem to forget.
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos proved as much by relocating to Florida from here after the Democrats’ new tax on capital-gains income took effect. By avoiding the Washington tax, he single-handedly put a nearly $1 billion hole in the majority’s budget plans.
I suspect many of the estimated 4,300 Washingtonians who are subject to the proposed tax on innovation will follow Bezos’ lead and move away, taking their assets with them. Why would they stay?
Before the Bezos change of address came along, the most famous greener-pastures example was Boeing’s stunning 2001 announcement that its headquarters were moving to Chicago after more than 80 years in Seattle.
That’s why legislators took it seriously in 2013 when there concern that Boeing’s new 777X airplane might be built in South Carolina.
The fear motivated House Democrats to work with the Republican-led Senate majority on extending tax incentives for aerospace, which helped land the project in our state.
Let’s suppose word got out that Microsoft or another big employer was tired of feeling like it and its payroll were being taken for granted.
Based on what we saw from them this year, Republicans question whether today’s Democrats are ideologically capable of respecting and accommodating the needs of Washington’s business community, as their counterparts were a dozen years ago.
For companies like Microsoft, protestors are disruptive — but the real threat is from the Democrats who currently control taxes and regulations. In addition to their apparent addiction to spending, they promote the crazy idea that successful people are villains and innovation should be punished instead of encouraged.
It’s time for the majority to back away, stop taking Washington’s businesses for granted and join Republicans in doing more with the tax dollars that are already being collected, instead of finding new ways to drive our job creators away. That’s how our state does better.
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Sen. John Braun of Centralia serves the 20th Legislative District, which spans parts of four counties from Yelm to Vancouver. He became Senate Republican leader in 2020.