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A Wealth Tax Floated in California Has Billionaires Thinking of Leaving

24 points by vinni2 10mo ago

marysminefnuf 10mo ago
Number 1 Billionaires wont leave lol and number 2 it doesnt matter because the companies they run still do business here and we can tax the fudge out of them.
- bdangubic 10mo ago
  yea, it is just so difficult to move a business out of state… :)
  - EA-3167 10mo ago
    I'm sure they can find another sunny, coastal state with a friendly government, the infrastructure, the talent, their mansions, the lovely weather, and the sixth largest economy in the US. That should be trivial.
    - ViktorRay 10mo ago
      South Florida is sunny coastal area with a friendly government, lots of mansions, lovely weather, large economy.
      - nullocator 10mo ago
        lovely weather* * outside of the frequent storms and hurricanes
      - EA-3167 10mo ago
        A tiny economy compared to Florida, a deeply right wing government and culture, it’s already fully built up with no room for newcomers, hurricanes and rising sea levels also make it an insane choice. Please be serious.
        misiti3780 10mo ago
        I'm sorry but you think people are not going to move to florida because of hurricanes. Please be serious. Also the left wing progressive culture is working wonders for California. It's a wonder everyone that can is leaving.
        EA-3167 10mo ago
        I don't believe that the whole billionaire-led VC industry in California is going to relocate to Florida, in part because of the weather, in part because of the cost, and many other factors. As far as "everyone leaving" California, I don't think that's true, but I'm on the other side of the country and it doesn't bother me either way.
        misiti3780 10mo ago
        Florida, Texas, Nashville - there are lot of better places to live outside of NYC and SF in 2025. Let's revisit in a year after the weather tax shakes out.
        bdangubic 10mo ago
        I was just on a ski-trip in Aspen. just about 75% of people I met there were “just in Miami” or “just in Key West” (mostly Miami) but “came up for Christmas and New Years” Billionaires have a “home State” as much as I have hair (you probably are guessing correctly now that I am bald…)
    - bdangubic 10mo ago
      yea, that’s super hard… every government is friendly to billionaires (you should know this by now), the infrastructure is a weird one but unless they are moving to Zimbabwe they should be Ok, weather in California is weird one considering last few days but plenty of amazing weather elsewhere (billionaires - as you should probably know - have just like a few houses to enjoy whatever weather they want, just saw few last week in Aspen skiing)… so yea, I see how your comment makes a lot of sense :)
    - fragmede 10mo ago
      Looking at Tesla and that billionaire, Texas is that destination, and while we can easily find a list of reasons not to move to Texas, at the end of the day, as a business climate, you can build things and start businesses there with way less overhead. How's that Bay Area housing crisis in going? Build anything yet?
pinewurst 10mo ago
https://archive.ph/1Bu8V https://archive.ph/1Bu8V
- aspenmayer 10mo ago
  https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/technology/california-wealth-tax-page-thiel.html?unlocked_article_code=1._k8.RmRQ.c8eZTkvi-4MR https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/technology/california-wea...
throw-12-16 10mo ago
Tax their companies too.
xqcgrek2 10mo ago
The billionaires have shown they are emperors without clothes without competence (thanks DOGE) and have a disproportionate negative affect on society. Tax them out of existence.
gigatexal 10mo ago
I have no sympathy for folks who exert undue influence effort to avoid taxes. Public infrastructure made them their wealth. But… I do have sympathy for the rich person who is upset about what they might see as taxation on programs that yield questionable results. They’ll see yet another tax and immediately ask what will it be used for? Is that worthwhile? I guess if they really wanted to change the focus of the spending or the taxation itself they could just buy themselves a lawmaker or two.
tfwnopmt 10mo ago
That much sale in assets will affect the asset prices themselves. Unless the state is willing to take taxes in the form of assets instead of cash, it doesn't make sense to tax them.
- EA-3167 10mo ago
  I do wish that just once our politicians (and the voters who are so easily spooked) thought through this issue a bit further than "Billionaires issue threat, we must surrender." There is a point at which taxation can be counterproductive, but we're so far in the other direction that it would take cultural and political changes of decades to get into dangerous territory. Unfortunately many people are trained to respond along party lines with thinking.
evil-olive 10mo ago
the all-important question - does "thinking of leaving" mean: a) thinking of actually leaving the state, or b) thinking of telling their team of accountants to claim on tax paperwork that their permanent residence is in another state because things like this make me think it's the latter: > In mid-December, three limited liability companies associated with Mr. Page filed documents to incorporate in Florida, according to state records. at the amount of wealth we're talking about, it's trivial for a billionaire to buy an additional mansion in (Florida|Texas|Nevada|Wyoming|etc), and claim that as their "official" residence. if they get billed with a wealth tax, their team of lawyers will claim that they live in that other state, and simply happen to spend a huge amount of their time on "business trips" to California. so the success or failure of this will hinge on how thoroughly it's actually enforced. the "progressive" Governor Newsom is opposed to it: > The measure faces opposition from Silicon Valley investors and others, including Gov. Gavin Newsom. At The New York Times DealBook conference this month, Mr. Newsom said a wealth tax was not pragmatic. The Democrat, who has been close with people like Mr. Page, is raising money for a committee to oppose the measure. The committee received a $100,000 donation from the venture capitalist Ron Conway in November, according to state campaign finance records. which makes me think that even if it does pass, he won't make enforcement of it a priority (especially since he'll be busy running for President)
- darubedarob 10mo ago
  They can not leave because all non-western countries have no real rule of law. If you flee to dhubai from russia taking your wealth with you, it takes one phone call for you to be send "home". All those shiny private non-western kingdoms come, surprise, suprise with a king who can undo any citizen on a whim.
- myrandomcomment 10mo ago
  There is existing rules that document the number of days you can be in the state of California, as well as types of assets, accounts that you can have, etc. that determine if you have to pay state income taxes. A large number of people in the past moved to the NV side of Lake Tahoe, traveling into CA for work. They found out quickly that it does not work. When I left CA, I closed all my accounts based in CA and got a new drivers license in WA in the first 30 days, turned in my old one, etc. I still received a letter from CA asking for details of my move.
add-sub-mul-div 10mo ago
Just like they said they were leaving New York after Mamdani won? Do we really have to entertain these as something serious?
- opo 10mo ago
  Is Mamdani proposing a "one time" tax of 5% of all of a person's wealth or anything remotely similar? If not, I don't think it is reasonable to compare the two situations.
  - misiti3780 10mo ago
    It wont be "one time", which is why they are leaving.
silexia 10mo ago
Wealth taxes are insane. It is very easy for wealthy to change their tax residence as most of them travel a ton anyways. Then the wealth tax has to move to lower and lower brackets, just like the income tax once did. Remember - the income tax was once only for the crazy wealthy. Now we all pay it.
pants2 10mo ago
This could be implemented differently to make tax evasion more difficult. One idea: start progressively increasing property tax on homes over 10,000 sq.ft. - now billionaires can have their huge mansions but will need to pay double-digit percent property tax for it.
Zigurd 10mo ago
Two frequently mentioned destinations are Florida and Texas. Both are terrible on women's rights and having misogynist political leaders. Threads like this are such a tech bro sausage fest I'm un surprised that women are not mentioned once in the first 36 comments posted here. Women are over half of four year degree earners. Good luck staffing your technology company in a place where most politicians' knuckles drag on the ground.

24 points by vinni2 10mo ago

Number 1 Billionaires wont leave lol and number 2 it doesnt matter because the companies they run still do business here and we can tax the fudge out of them.

bdangubic 10mo ago
yea, it is just so difficult to move a business out of state… :)
- EA-3167 10mo ago
  I'm sure they can find another sunny, coastal state with a friendly government, the infrastructure, the talent, their mansions, the lovely weather, and the sixth largest economy in the US. That should be trivial.
  - ViktorRay 10mo ago
    South Florida is sunny coastal area with a friendly government, lots of mansions, lovely weather, large economy.
    - nullocator 10mo ago
      lovely weather* * outside of the frequent storms and hurricanes
    - EA-3167 10mo ago
      A tiny economy compared to Florida, a deeply right wing government and culture, it’s already fully built up with no room for newcomers, hurricanes and rising sea levels also make it an insane choice. Please be serious.
      - misiti3780 10mo ago
        I'm sorry but you think people are not going to move to florida because of hurricanes. Please be serious. Also the left wing progressive culture is working wonders for California. It's a wonder everyone that can is leaving.
        EA-3167 10mo ago
        I don't believe that the whole billionaire-led VC industry in California is going to relocate to Florida, in part because of the weather, in part because of the cost, and many other factors. As far as "everyone leaving" California, I don't think that's true, but I'm on the other side of the country and it doesn't bother me either way.
        misiti3780 10mo ago
        Florida, Texas, Nashville - there are lot of better places to live outside of NYC and SF in 2025. Let's revisit in a year after the weather tax shakes out.
      - bdangubic 10mo ago
        I was just on a ski-trip in Aspen. just about 75% of people I met there were “just in Miami” or “just in Key West” (mostly Miami) but “came up for Christmas and New Years” Billionaires have a “home State” as much as I have hair (you probably are guessing correctly now that I am bald…)
  - bdangubic 10mo ago
    yea, that’s super hard… every government is friendly to billionaires (you should know this by now), the infrastructure is a weird one but unless they are moving to Zimbabwe they should be Ok, weather in California is weird one considering last few days but plenty of amazing weather elsewhere (billionaires - as you should probably know - have just like a few houses to enjoy whatever weather they want, just saw few last week in Aspen skiing)… so yea, I see how your comment makes a lot of sense :)
  - fragmede 10mo ago
    Looking at Tesla and that billionaire, Texas is that destination, and while we can easily find a list of reasons not to move to Texas, at the end of the day, as a business climate, you can build things and start businesses there with way less overhead. How's that Bay Area housing crisis in going? Build anything yet?

pinewurst 10mo ago

https://archive.ph/1Bu8V https://archive.ph/1Bu8V

aspenmayer 10mo ago
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/technology/california-wealth-tax-page-thiel.html?unlocked_article_code=1._k8.RmRQ.c8eZTkvi-4MR https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/technology/california-wea...

throw-12-16 10mo ago

Tax their companies too.

xqcgrek2 10mo ago

The billionaires have shown they are emperors without clothes without competence (thanks DOGE) and have a disproportionate negative affect on society. Tax them out of existence.

gigatexal 10mo ago

I have no sympathy for folks who exert undue influence effort to avoid taxes. Public infrastructure made them their wealth. But… I do have sympathy for the rich person who is upset about what they might see as taxation on programs that yield questionable results. They’ll see yet another tax and immediately ask what will it be used for? Is that worthwhile? I guess if they really wanted to change the focus of the spending or the taxation itself they could just buy themselves a lawmaker or two.

tfwnopmt 10mo ago

That much sale in assets will affect the asset prices themselves. Unless the state is willing to take taxes in the form of assets instead of cash, it doesn't make sense to tax them.

EA-3167 10mo ago
I do wish that just once our politicians (and the voters who are so easily spooked) thought through this issue a bit further than "Billionaires issue threat, we must surrender." There is a point at which taxation can be counterproductive, but we're so far in the other direction that it would take cultural and political changes of decades to get into dangerous territory. Unfortunately many people are trained to respond along party lines with thinking.

evil-olive 10mo ago

the all-important question - does "thinking of leaving" mean: a) thinking of actually leaving the state, or b) thinking of telling their team of accountants to claim on tax paperwork that their permanent residence is in another state because things like this make me think it's the latter: > In mid-December, three limited liability companies associated with Mr. Page filed documents to incorporate in Florida, according to state records. at the amount of wealth we're talking about, it's trivial for a billionaire to buy an additional mansion in (Florida|Texas|Nevada|Wyoming|etc), and claim that as their "official" residence. if they get billed with a wealth tax, their team of lawyers will claim that they live in that other state, and simply happen to spend a huge amount of their time on "business trips" to California. so the success or failure of this will hinge on how thoroughly it's actually enforced. the "progressive" Governor Newsom is opposed to it: > The measure faces opposition from Silicon Valley investors and others, including Gov. Gavin Newsom. At The New York Times DealBook conference this month, Mr. Newsom said a wealth tax was not pragmatic. The Democrat, who has been close with people like Mr. Page, is raising money for a committee to oppose the measure. The committee received a $100,000 donation from the venture capitalist Ron Conway in November, according to state campaign finance records. which makes me think that even if it does pass, he won't make enforcement of it a priority (especially since he'll be busy running for President)

darubedarob 10mo ago
They can not leave because all non-western countries have no real rule of law. If you flee to dhubai from russia taking your wealth with you, it takes one phone call for you to be send "home". All those shiny private non-western kingdoms come, surprise, suprise with a king who can undo any citizen on a whim.
myrandomcomment 10mo ago
There is existing rules that document the number of days you can be in the state of California, as well as types of assets, accounts that you can have, etc. that determine if you have to pay state income taxes. A large number of people in the past moved to the NV side of Lake Tahoe, traveling into CA for work. They found out quickly that it does not work. When I left CA, I closed all my accounts based in CA and got a new drivers license in WA in the first 30 days, turned in my old one, etc. I still received a letter from CA asking for details of my move.

add-sub-mul-div 10mo ago

Just like they said they were leaving New York after Mamdani won? Do we really have to entertain these as something serious?

opo 10mo ago
Is Mamdani proposing a "one time" tax of 5% of all of a person's wealth or anything remotely similar? If not, I don't think it is reasonable to compare the two situations.
- misiti3780 10mo ago
  It wont be "one time", which is why they are leaving.

silexia 10mo ago

Wealth taxes are insane. It is very easy for wealthy to change their tax residence as most of them travel a ton anyways. Then the wealth tax has to move to lower and lower brackets, just like the income tax once did. Remember - the income tax was once only for the crazy wealthy. Now we all pay it.

pants2 10mo ago

This could be implemented differently to make tax evasion more difficult. One idea: start progressively increasing property tax on homes over 10,000 sq.ft. - now billionaires can have their huge mansions but will need to pay double-digit percent property tax for it.

Zigurd 10mo ago

Two frequently mentioned destinations are Florida and Texas. Both are terrible on women's rights and having misogynist political leaders. Threads like this are such a tech bro sausage fest I'm un surprised that women are not mentioned once in the first 36 comments posted here. Women are over half of four year degree earners. Good luck staffing your technology company in a place where most politicians' knuckles drag on the ground.