Karma? Seattle Mayor’s Starbucks Boycott — Starbucks Moves $100 Million & 2000 Jobs to Nashville

At a workers’ rally five months ago, Seattle, Washington Mayor Katie Wilson called for a boycott of Starbucks coffee. The mayor said, “I am not buying Starbucks, and you should not, too.”

By the way, the other day the mayor actually did buy a drink at a Seattle Starbucks but refused to call off her boycott when seen making the purchase.

Though the company denies it, the boycott may end up costing Seattle — and Washington State — a pile of money and thousands of jobs. Starbucks announced last week that it’s moving $100 million and 2,000 jobs to Nashville, Tennessee. Music City is pegged to be the company’s new headquarters.

Starbucks chief partner officer, Sara Kelly pooh-poohed the notion that the $100 million and the 2,000 jobs is a response to the mayor’s boycott. "Our new office in Nashville reflects three key advantages: proximity to key suppliers; access to a deep and growing talent pool in the region, notably in technology; and alignment with where we expect future coffeehouse growth,” she noted.

Nashville Mayor Bill Lee sees things differently. He says, ”When a company like Starbucks decides to make this kind of an investment into our community, our people are going to benefit from that.”

Business experts like Ryan Frost, director of budget and tax policy at the Washington Policy Center, say the move to Nashville really comes down to dollars and cents. He said the company will see its worker tax burden drop by $12,000 per year per worker.

"Seattle has such a higher tax burden than Nashville does," Frost said and pointed out that Washington’s business and occupation tax (B&O) applies to gross income rather than profits.

Former Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz penned an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal on May 11th criticizing Wilson and Seattle’s, and her, bias against small business and large. He essentially said Wilson and her politics are chasing much-needed bigger businesses out of Seattle and the state and is causing smaller, formerly successful businesses to close.

The big question now involves the 3,000 employees based at the Seattle headquarters. Some staff will be offered relocation jobs. Key word: some. Layoffs have already begun starting with a couple of hundred in the last few weeks.

Source link: MoneyWise — https://bit.ly/4vjqqPX