‘Morally bankrupt?’: Jake shocked by Spike’s view on companies fleeing WA amid new tax proposal
Dec 5, 2025, 6:30 PM
A new tax proposal, called the Well Washington Fund, would generate approximately $3 billion a year from Washington’s largest corporations. The money, accumulated by a payroll tax on wages over $125,000, would support public services such as higher education and healthcare.
“I’m supporting this,” KIRO host Spike O’Neill said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio.
“You’re supporting this?” KIRO host Jake Skorheim pushed back.
“I do support this because these companies who are making insane amounts of money here in the state of Washington have always paid more than they pay now — they just got a massive tax break — both Microsoft and Amazon through the ‘big, beautiful bill,'” Spike responded.
“So here’s companies making more money than ever, paying less taxes than ever,” he continued. “So maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask them to contribute to the city in which their employees live.”
“They already do tremendously,” Jake countered.
As for companies leaving Seattle due to higher taxes, Spike called the decision “morally bankrupt.”
“You think it’s morally bankrupt to leave a town?” Jake asked.
“I think it’s morally bankrupt to make all your money, and then when you’re asked to contribute to the society where you’ve made all your money, you go somewhere else that’s gonna let you off the hook for paying taxes,” Spike responded.
Jake then asked Spike if he believes governments run efficiently.
“Of course I don’t,” Spike replied.
“OK, then why would we give them money?” Jake asked.
To which Spike responded, “You’re changing the question.”
Jake reframed the question, asking Spike hypothetically if his CPA mismanaged his money, if Spike would give him more money, or less money?
“If my CPA did a bad job managing my money, that means I should pay less in taxes?” Spike replied.
After some more back and forth, Jake eventually said, “We’ll happily agree to disagree on this one.”
Watch the full discussion in the video above.
Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
