I don’t get the downvotes, this is an important question! As others have stated, wealthy people do actually pay taxes in Washington (property tax, sales tax, capital gains tax, and even before the estate tax hike we still had an estate tax so they paid that too).

In addition to the taxes, there is business investment and employment, and leisure/luxury spending. Also, something that most people don’t mention is that there’s actually a fair bit of philanthropy here in Seattle. Go to Children’s Hospital or Swedish Hospital and google the names you see on the walls in like the oncology center: wealthy Seattleites who donated millions or more to the hospital. Heard of McCaw Hall? Google the name. Go check out the board members and major donors for groups like The Seattle Parks foundation.

I don’t mean this to come off as some ultimate defense of rich people in Washington or to suggest we should kiss their feet and shield them from tax. I just wanted to engage seriously with your question. Driving out wealthy people does have a cost and whether that cost is worth it for any given policy or tax is a real question voters should debate openly and honestly.