Seattle decided to follow in New York's footsteps and elect an unqualified, inexperienced socialist as its next mayor. Katie Wilson is in her 40s and has spent most of her life being bankrolled by her wealthy parents. Back in August, Wilson attacked Kroger for closing stores in Washington, citing crime and the cost of doing business in the blue state. Wilson blamed "corporate greed" for the move and vowed to align with unions to ensure "all neighborhoods in our city have access to healthy food and medicine."
After winning her election, Wilson vowed to enact a progressive tax agenda and collectivism in her city, telling the media, "I am very committed to making sure we are using our existing resources as effectively and efficiently as possible," Wilson said. "I am not averse to ending spending on programs that were maybe well-intentioned when they were first implemented, but aren't fulfilling their goals."
"I do think that we will pursue new progressive revenue," she added, "in order to fund our priorities and make sure that we're delivering services to the people of Seattle. There are several progressive tax options I proposed as part of my platform. We're going to have city staff looking into developing those into legislation."
And it appears she's keeping that first promise. Seattle has the nation's second-worst office vacancy rate. This is much like Kroger: due to crime and the cost of doing business in the city. We're also sure the Left's insane COVID policies had a role to play, too.
To solve this problem, Wilson is going to tax the owners of those vacant offices.
Seattle has the 2nd worst office vacancy rate in the United States.
— Future 42 (@future42org) January 5, 2026
Is new Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson's solution to attract business back to downtown:
A) Lower taxes for businesses
B) Clean up the drugs and despair off the streets
C) Tax owners of vacant office buildings
If… pic.twitter.com/XEVfTt0ocA
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According to Seattle's Morning News Host Charlie Harger, the city's overall vacancy rate is 26.6 percent, with downtown at 35 percent. In Pioneer Square, more than half of the buildings are vacant.
"It's a different downtown than the one we knew before 2020," Harger said. "Quieter overall, and in certain pockets you'll find open-air drug markets, people strung out on sidewalks. It's real, no matter how some may try to downplay it."
"It doesn't have to be everywhere; it just has to be enough to make a CEO think twice about renewing a lease," Harger said. "And this is what mayor-elect Katie Wilson inherits on Thursday when she takes office."
"She's proposed a vacancy tax," Harger continues. "The idea is to nudge building owners to fill empty space rather than let it sit. I understand that instinct. When something is broken, you want to pull a lever, and a tax is a lever. It's also the lever that socialists tend to reach for first."
Wilson is an open Democratic Socialist, and Harger said this is a chance for her to see if her "instincts match the moment" as Wilson's inheriting a massive economic problem in Seattle.
Harger said Wilson has also talked about converting offices into houses. "But those conversions are expensive and complicated," Harger noted, "and it's a years-long process, not a quick fix."
But whenever you raise taxes, people tend to flee for cheaper pastures. That's how it's always been and how it will remain. Yet socialists like Wilson don't seem to operate in or understand our economic realities, so they'll continue to do the wrong thing and take our money.
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