Late last year, the architects of California’s “Billionaire Wealth Tax” ballot proposition quietly amended language in their proposal which, if successful, would permanently end the concept of founder-controlled startups in the state — a technology industry kill switch…
Per the late November amendment:
“(C) For any interests that confer voting or other direct control rights, the percentage of the business entity owned by the taxpayer shall be presumed to be not less than the taxpayer’s percentage of the overall voting or other direct control rights.”
“Larry and Sergey [Google founders] can’t stay in California since the wealth tax as written would confiscate 50% of their Alphabet shares.
Each own ~3% of Alphabet’s stock, worth about $120 billion each at today’s ~$4 trillion market cap.
But because their shares have 10x voting power, the SEIU-UHW California billionaire tax would treat them as owning 30% of Alphabet (3% × 10 = 30%). That means each founder’s taxable wealth would be $1.2 trillion.
A 5% wealth tax on $1.2 trillion = $60 billion tax bill, each.
That’s 50% of their actual Alphabet holdings — wiped out by a ‘5%’ tax.”
Trotsky was right. If you’re gonna do this thing you have to do it everywhere at once. Socialism in one place can’t work because they’ll just go somewhere else. What are they thinking? Eventually you can kill the golden goose.
Taxing controlling interest is dumb. Whoever came up with that idea is ruining socialism for the rest of us.
The argument that capitalism is good and socialism is bad, or vice versa, is also dumb. It ignores the fact that we currently have aspects of both in our society. It also ignores the fundamental reason both systems fail…corruption.
…and another fundamental reason both systems fail, unless the people in them practice hard core thinking in making choices as opposed to embracing a mode of quasi-religious reverence for hopelessly obsolete economic notions, notions that are close to religious superstition.
Rich people are leaving California https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/01/19/california-wealth-tax-exodus/ “There is not a founder who comes to San Francisco or California to work in the technology industry who does not think they are going to be creating a billion plus dollar company,” he said. “This has spooked a lot of people.”…
David Lesperance, a tax attorney, said that four of his clients, worth $600 billion collectively, have set relocation plans into motion — three to Florida and one to Texas. “Every one of my clients who ran the numbers [after Thanksgiving] came back immediately and said get me the hell out of here,” he said. “This is now a no-brainer.”
A 5% tax on the worldwide net worth of individuals with assets exceeding $1 billion. In a report proponents of the Act estimated revenues of $100 billion. That figure begins with the $2.19 trillion aggregate net worth of California’s billionaires, applies the 5 percent rate to arrive at $109.5 billion, then assumes that avoidance and evasion will reduce collections by just 10 percent.
We decided to do calculations of our own, and we found much different results. Our key findings are as follows:
We project wealth tax revenue of approximately $40 billion, compared to the $100 billion claimed by proponents
The net present value (“NPV”) of the Act, which reflects expected wealth tax revenues as well as losses of income tax revenues from departing billionaires, is negative $24.7 billion; across 100,000 simulations, 71% of scenarios yield a negative NPV.
That is BS. California has more rich people than any other state and adding more:
1. California
Forbes 400 members: 85 (+2 from 2024), worth $1.7 trillion
Richest resident: Larry Ellison ($276 billion)
California’s reputation as a hub for Hollywood talent and tech visionaries holds strong. The state leads the nation in billionaires, with 39 of them building their fortunes in technology. Oracle founder Larry Ellison tops the list with $276 billion, overtaking Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg ($253 billion). Other leaders of industry include Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang ($151 billion) and Google cofounder Larry Page ($179 billion). Entertainment moguls include George Lucas ($5.4 billion), Steven Spielberg ($7.1 billion) and David Geffen ($8.8 billion) also call the Golden State home.
2. New York
Forbes 400 members: 57 (+3 from 2024), worth $690.9 billion
Richest resident: Michael Bloomberg ($109 billion)
New York remains a magnet for some of the world’s most successful businesspeople. Roughly two-thirds of the state’s billionaires made their fortunes in finance and investments, including richest resident (former NYC mayor) Michael Bloomberg, who’s worth staggering $109 billion. Other major names from the Empire State include media mogul Rupert Murdoch ($24.1 billion) and fashion icon Ralph Lauren ($12.7 billion).
3. Florida
Forbes 400 members: 49 (-5 from 2024), worth $716.3 billion
Richest resident: Jeff Bezos ($241 billion)
Florida now ranks third among states with the most billionaires, down from a tie with New York for second last year. Leading the pack is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who relocated from Seattle to Miami in 2023. Behind him sits Citadel founder Ken Griffin ($50.4 billion). Other prominent Florida billionaires include NBA legend Michael Jordan ($3.8 billion) and OnlyFans owner Leonid Radvinksy ($7.8 billion).