Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sold his Seattle Hunts Point mansion for $63 million in spring 2025, setting a record for the most expensive home sale in Washington state, according to King County property records and Puget Sound Business Journal. The sale occurred about a year and a half after Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, relocated to Miami.
The move preceded Washington state's introduction of a new income tax targeting high earners. In March 2025, Governor Bob Ferguson signed a law imposing a 9.9% levy on household income above $1 million, affecting roughly 30,000 taxpayers. The tax is scheduled to begin in 2028, with first payments due in April 2029. Initiative 645, appearing on the November 3 ballot, seeks to repeal the tax and ban income taxes in the state. A lawsuit challenging the tax's constitutionality is also pending.
This income tax adds to the capital gains tax, which the Washington Supreme Court upheld in 2023 and can reach up to 9.9%. The capital gains tax has been widely viewed as a factor in Bezos's decision to move to Florida, a state without income tax. Bezos's net worth currently stands at $365 billion, making him the world's second-richest person behind Elon Musk.
The state Supreme Court deadlocked 4–4 on a ballot statement warning that repealing the tax could result in cuts to education and health care, so that language will appear on the ballot. The outcome of Initiative 645 will be decided by voters on November 3, 2026.