‘A childish view of how money works’: John Curley slams Katie Wilson’s ‘tax the rich’ proposal

Seattle Mayor-Elect Katie Wilson has championed a “tax the rich” agenda, but KIRO host John Curley warned the plan will only drive wealthy residents away.

Curley argued the approach is foolish and will have negative consequences for Seattle.

“This is such a childish view of money,” he said on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “It’s such a childish, immature view of how the market works. If you’re good at what you do and someone’s willing to pay you, because you’re going to do something that somebody else can’t do, you’re going to get more money than somebody else.”

Tiffany McCoy, Co-Executive Director of House Our Neighbors, who is part of Wilson’s transition team, said during a news conference that the city would be taxing corporations.

To which Curley responded, “No, you’re not, you don’t tax a corporation. You’re taxing people.”

Curley shared that his friend Scott is planning on moving to Arizona, and believes other people will follow.

“They’re not going to sit there and allow you to take your fair share of their hard work,” Curley said.

He noted that if the tax threshold is set at a million dollars without adjusting for inflation, more people will be affected over time.

“In five years from now, with inflation, you’re going to capture more people, because the million dollars will not be worth a million dollars. Inflation eating away 2 or 3 or 4% a year, there’s less value,” Curley said.

He reiterated that people will leave the city and take their work elsewhere.

“If you do well at a job, and it’s a marketable skill, and the market pays you, and if you’re not getting paid what you deserve, there you go, and you shop your skills somewhere else, and somebody will pay you for it,” Curley said.

“And these people have no right to take it, although the people of Seattle voted ‘Yes, it’s OK for the 5%.’ Well, I’ve got news for you: Anybody that voted for these social housing taxes — the golden goose has wings, and they’ll just fly away and go somewhere else where they don’t see their work as being excessive and being the right of somebody else to take it from them,” he continued.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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