‘Companies have options’: Seattle business community reacts to Starbucks’ Tennessee expansion

Starbucks announced it will open a corporate operations office in Nashville later this year, a move that has prompted renewed calls from Seattle business leaders for the city to rethink its approach to employer taxes.

The Seattle-based coffee giant said its global headquarters will stay in Seattle’s SODO neighborhood as it announced the expansion on Tuesday. The Wall Street Journal reported dozens of Seattle employees are being offered the chance to relocate.

“The Davidson County office will support the company’s continued coffeehouse growth and rising customer demand, in particular, the Southeast region of the U.S.,” the State of Tennessee wrote in a prepared statement.

Jon Scholes, president and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association, told KIRO Newsradio the decision underscores the competitive pressures Seattle faces in retaining and attracting jobs.

“We’re in a super competitive marketplace when it comes to locating and growing jobs in Seattle, and we haven’t added jobs in the last year. In fact, we’ve lost jobs,” Scholes said. “We’ve seen a lot of job growth on the other side of the lake, but not in the city of Seattle, and that coincides with significant increases in business taxes and employer taxes.”

Starbucks follows a pattern similar to Amazon

The Nashville expansion follows a similar pattern seen with Amazon, which has shifted much of its footprint to the Eastside. Scholes said he has delivered a consistent message to city leaders.

“These companies, these great companies, that we’re so proud of in the city, they don’t have to be here. They have options,” Scholes said. “We want them here. We want them to keep growing and investing, creating job opportunities, expanding the tax base. And that’s not what’s been happening.”

Scholes declined to speculate on whether Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s past public opposition to Starbucks played a role in the decision.

“I don’t know all the ins and outs of [Starbucks’] decision, but I do know that it’s important for employers and business leaders to feel wanted and to feel like they’ve got partners at City Hall,” Scholes said.

He commended the mayor for recent comments at the State of the City address, acknowledging the importance of employers and the taxes they pay.

Scholes said he plans to address the issue at the Downtown Seattle Association’s State of Downtown event next week.

“We don’t need more taxes on business. We need more businesses paying taxes in our city,” Scholes said.

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