After nearly half a century in the Pacific Northwest, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has packed up and headed south.
Schultz announced on LinkedIn that he and his wife, Sheri, have relocated to Miami, Florida, describing the move as the beginning of their "retirement phase." The announcement comes amid Washington state's push to implement a new income tax targeting high earners — a proposal that has already cleared the State House of Representatives in a 51-46 vote.
According to Fox Business, in his LinkedIn post, Schultz reflected on his long history with the Seattle area. He recounted arriving in the city 44 years ago from New York City with Sheri and their golden retriever, Jonas. At the time, Sheri was the household's primary income earner as Schultz prepared to start a new position in September 1982, "at a place called Starbucks."
"We were starting a new life," Schultz wrote of that early chapter. What followed was one of the most remarkable entrepreneurial runs in American business history — turning a regional coffee company into a global powerhouse.
Schultz served as Starbucks CEO across three separate stints: from 1986 to 2000, from 2008 to 2017, and as interim CEO from 2022 to 2023. His estimated net worth now stands at approximately $3.5 billion, according to Forbes. The company he built remains headquartered in Seattle, though it recently announced plans to open a new corporate office in Nashville. In his farewell to Washington, Schultz struck a grateful tone. "We will be forever grateful for the memories made in Seattle and the relationships built along the way," he wrote. "To the family, friends, and partners who made Seattle our home for so many years, thank you."
The timing of Schultz's departure has raised eyebrows, and it's not hard to see why. Washington state has been working to pass what has been dubbed the "millionaires tax," a proposal that would impose a 9.9% income tax on households earning more than $1 million annually. The Washington State House of Representatives passed the bill in a 51-46 vote, and it now awaits confirmation by the State Senate before Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson can sign it into law.
Critics of such tax proposals argue that they have a predictable consequence: wealthy residents simply leave. Florida, which levies no state income tax, has long been a magnet for high-net-worth individuals seeking to protect their earnings. The Schultz family's relocation to Miami fits a well-documented pattern of capital flight from high-tax jurisdictions.
This is a story that plays out across the country with regularity. When states raise taxes on their most productive earners, those earners often vote with their feet. The revenue projections behind these tax bills rarely account for the departures they incentivize. It's a basic lesson in economics that legislatures continue to learn the hard way.
Milton Friedman once observed that people respond to incentives — and few incentives are as powerful as keeping more of what you earn. A 9.9% income tax on top of existing federal obligations is not trivial. For someone with Schultz's estimated $3.5 billion fortune and the income streams that accompany it, the math on relocating to a zero-income-tax state is straightforward.
Washington state, which has historically had no income tax, risks fundamentally altering its business climate with this legislation. The bill's passage through the House signals that the political appetite for taxing wealth is growing in Olympia. Whether the State Senate will follow suit remains to be seen, but the signal has already been sent — and Schultz appears to have received it.
Schultz himself framed the move in personal rather than political terms. "The spirit of continuing forward has long underpinned our approach to life — in business, in philanthropy and most importantly, as a family," he wrote. He added that he and Sheri are "enjoying the sunshine and being close to their kids on the East Coast."
"For those of you who know us well, we have entered the 'retirement' phase of our lives. A term we are both just getting used to." The lighthearted tone of that statement belies the seriousness of the underlying trend. When a state's most prominent business figure departs, it sends a signal to other entrepreneurs and executives weighing their own options.
Starbucks itself appears to be diversifying its geographic footprint as well. The company announced just a week before Schultz's post that it would be opening a new corporate office in Nashville, another state with no income tax. While no direct connection between the two developments has been stated, the pattern is hard to ignore for anyone watching capital flows and corporate strategy.
For investors and wealth-builders, the takeaway is practical. Tax policy matters — not just at the federal level, but at the state level, where the differences can be dramatic. Individuals and companies alike gravitate toward environments that reward productivity rather than penalize it. Schultz's move to Miami is less a retirement story and more a case study in rational economic decision-making. Washington state may soon discover that the revenue it hopes to capture with its proposed millionaires tax has already walked out the door.