Washington Companies Warned Officials About Tax Increases Before Relocations

Washington state companies sent written warnings to state officials in 2025 that new taxes on headquarters functions would increase costs and place them at a competitive disadvantage compared with firms based elsewhere. The same companies stated that a new business-and-occupation tax surcharge would make future investment in the state more difficult. Officials signed the tax package anyway.

One company requested a meeting with the governor in February after the tax package passed; the meeting did not occur. The company later announced a $100 million corporate hub in Nashville, began layoffs in Washington, and planned to hire up to 2,000 workers in Tennessee.

Employment at that company's Seattle headquarters fell from roughly 3,750 workers in 2023 to about 2,800. Nearly 1,300 Washington workers were affected by two rounds of corporate and retail layoffs, and almost 40 stores closed permanently. A second company wrote lawmakers that an expanded sales tax on advertising services would penalize firms that keep headquarters jobs in the state.

That company has laid off nearly 400 Washington employees while expanding campuses in Kansas, Texas, and Georgia.

Seattle-area startups raised $2.7 billion across 163 venture-capital deals in the first half of 2026, down about 40 percent from the same period a year earlier. Among the nation's ten largest venture-capital markets, Seattle fell from fifth to seventh in dollars invested and last in deal count.

Statewide unemployment reached 5.2 percent, one percentage point above the national average, while Seattle office vacancy stood at roughly 37 percent. Officials received briefing memos ahead of meetings with company executives that documented the scale of workforce reductions and store closures.