Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said that Washington state’s fiscal outlook took a significant hit after Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos relocated from the state to Florida in late 2023.
Taxpayers ‘Flee’ Due To Bad Policies
On Sunday, in a post on X, DeSantis said that the state of Washington had “lost its biggest taxpayer,” referring to Bezos’ recent move to Florida.
According to DeSantis, this single relocation of a billionaire entrepreneur has resulted in “a major impact” on Washington’s state budget.
While he didn’t mention any specific figures, Bezos’ move to his infamous “billionaire bunker” in the exclusive Indian Creek Village community outside of Miami in 2024 reportedly helped him save $1 billion in taxes. This is a considerable figure given Washington state’s annual revenue of $66.39 billion from 2023 through 2025.
This comes amid Washington’s plans for a new state income tax on its millionaire residents, which DeSantis said would be “counterproductive,” since it hands states that don’t have an income tax, such as Florida, “a major advantage over states that do.”
“Washington has already driven taxpayers out due to bad policies,” he said, adding that the inevitable result of such bad policies is that “taxpayers will flee.”
He warned that states will continue spending, and eventually, what began as a tax on millionaires will expand to the rest of the tax base. “This will further erode the economic base — and the cycle will keep repeating,” he said in conclusion.
Neither Bezos nor the State of Washington immediately responded to Benzinga’s request for a comment on this matter. The story will be updated as soon as we receive a response.
Billionaires Plan Exit From California Amid New Wealth Tax
Other states, such as California, are headed in a similar direction, with a new proposal for a wealth tax on the state’s billionaires, called the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act.
According to the proposal, a one-time levy of 5% would be imposed on all state residents with a net worth of more than $1 billion, with stiff penalties for understating wealth, and additional measures to prevent evasion among the state’s 200 billionaire residents.
Billionaire investor Peter Thiel and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) co-founder Larry Page are reportedly planning to cut down their ties to the state, with Page already planning his move to Florida.
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