Jeff Bezos Exits Left-Wing Seattle For New Home In 'Low Tax' Miami

Florida has gained some extremely wealthy residents, like Citadel's Ken Griffin, in a post-Covid era. Joining the migration of billionaires to the Sunshine State is none other than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. 

Bezos announced his big move in an Instagram post on Thursday night:  

Seattle has been my home since 1994 when I started Amazon out of my garage. That's my dad behind the camera in this video, touring Amazon's first "office." My parents have always been my biggest supporters. They recently moved back to Miami, the place we lived when I was younger (Miami Palmetto High class of '82 — GO Panthers!) I want to be close to my parents, and Lauren and I love Miami. Also, Blue Origin's operations are increasingly shifting to Cape Canaveral. For all that, I'm planning to return to Miami, leaving the Pacific Northwest.

I've lived in Seattle longer than I've lived anywhere else and have so many amazing memories here. As exciting as the move is, it's an emotional decision for me. Seattle, you will always have a piece of my heart.

While Bezos stated in the post he wants to be closer to his parents and Blue Origin's new operations at Cape Canaveral, we suspect what spurred his exodus from the progressive state, like other wealthy folks, is the move from a high-tax state to a low-tax state. Florida does not impose a state income tax, estate tax, or inheritance tax.

In contrast, Washington state has a 7pc tax on capital gains, introduced in 2022, and officials have proposed a 1pc wealth tax on residents with over $250m in assets (which would mean Bezos paying $1.6 billion a year just to live there).

Bloomberg recently reported the billionaire purchased a $79 million seven-bedroom mansion in Indian Creek, an artificial barrier island in the Miami area.

Bezos is currently the third richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg data. 

Besides Bezos, former Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt has been yet another billion in recent months to purchase a mansion in Miami. 

And just like that, blue states continue to see an exodus of wealthy folks - the trend is not slowing down.