Microsoft President Brad Smith delivered a scathing critique of new taxes passed by the Washington state Legislature while speaking at an event earlier this month.

The comments from Smith came at the Sept. 11 annual policy dinner hosted by the Washington Policy Center (WPC), a pro-business think tank that has lambasted the state’s recent tax hikes.

Addressing the crowd, Smith said that he’s met with lawmakers in Olympia who haven’t figured out that the legislation they’re pursuing has been tried and failed elsewhere.

“Or they’re not willing to consider not just the possibility — but now the reality — that the taxes they’re enacting are driving people and jobs away,” Smith said in a video of his speech posted to YouTube.

This spring, Smith joined executives from dozens of other business

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