You know that California politicians have sought to harass wealthy residents into paying higher levels of taxation. Now, they want to bite the forbidden apple of taxation by implementing a wealth tax on the state’s richest residents. And they’re asking voters for help. A ballot measure has been proposed that will, according to Jason Ma writing in Fortune, call “for California residents worth more than $1 billion to pay a one-time tax equivalent to 5% of their assets.”
It’s no surprise that the state’s billionaires have other plans. Ma explains:
Tech billionaires are making plans to bail on California ahead a possible ballot measure that would tax their assets to help pay for healthcare.
Sources told the New York Times that venture capitalist Peter Thiel has explored spending more time outside California and opening an office for his Los Angeles-based personal investment firm, Thiel Capital, in another state.
Meanwhile, Google cofounder Larry Page has discussed leaving the state by year’s end, sources told the Times, while three limited liability companies associated with him have filed documents to incorporate in Florida.
Chamath Palihapitiya, a California tech investor, explained in a post on X.com that if the proposal passes, the state’s most talented entrepreneurs will leave, and funding the state will be up to its middle class.
California is proposing a 5% excise tax on “billionaires”. I put it in quotes because it proposes counting everything and the kitchen sink as a dragnet to qualify as many people as possible.
But what they are really doing is breaking the seal on a trend that will bankrupt the… https://t.co/IUZBkGvmqN
— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) December 22, 2025
Action Line: Maybe not all of California’s billionaires will leave, this time. But how many “temporary” or “one-time” taxes have become annual rituals extending in perpetuity? Who believes that once California has taken a bite of the forbidden apple of wealth taxation, it will stop until it has eaten down to the core? Money goes where it’s treated best, and so do those who have it. If you’re looking for a better America, begin your search with Your Survival Guy’s 2025 Super States. And click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter and be among the first to see my upcoming 2026 Super States release.
