California is preparing a “billionaires” tax, and not surprisingly, the billionaires have noticed. Mark Zuckerberg is the latest billionaire to buy a new home in tax-friendly Florida, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have purchased a mansion in Miami’s Indian Creek community, aka the Billionaire Bunker.
The WSJ’s Katherine Clarke and Deborah Acosta explain the effect the tax proposal is having in California:
Zuckerberg is the latest tech billionaire to descend on Miami as California proposes a 5% billionaire tax; Florida offers no state income tax, which for billionaires like Zuckerberg and Bezos adds up to millions of dollars. Real-estate agents in South Florida say they have been working non-stop showing properties to Californians since the possibility of the new tax was announced. “The 5% tax in California is really driving out people in a major way,” said Danny Hertzberg, a Miami real-estate agent at Coldwell Banker Realty.
The tax would apply retroactively to Jan. 1 of 2026, and Miami real-estate lawyers said they were working at a breakneck pace at the end of last year to close sales of multimillion-dollar properties. Some lawyers said they had to turn down closings because they were unable to address them before the end of the year.
Action Line: The United States is fifty laboratories of democracy, competing for resources. Money will go where it’s best treated, and today it’s more mobile than ever. Billionaires can pack up and move in the blink of an eye. You can too. If your politicians are treating you like a piggy bank, you may be looking for a better America. If you are, begin your search with Your Survival Guy’s 2025 Super States, and click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter. You’ll be among the first to receive my forthcoming 2026 Super States.
