California could tax billionaires. Report the tech billionaire’s inevitable tantrum

Taking money away from billionaires is funny, and threatening to do it can be a nice political sugar rush for anyone with even a tiny bit of class consciousness (although it wouldn’t come close to creating “socialism” in America according to socialists like Doug Henwood). The State of California is now seriously threatening to do so, and the predictable result is occurring. according to the New York Times: Tech billionaires like Peter Thiel and former Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page throw their obligatory tantrums and threaten to leave.

The policy instrument involved here is not a nuanced, technocratic change to the tax code that applies to billionaires, but rather a one-time 5% tax on billionaires. This comes in the form of a proposed ballot measure supported by unions, particularly the Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West.

Everyone living in California on or after Jan. 1, 2026, would be subject to the proposed tax, and the math works like this: If you have $20 billion in assets, you owe $1 billion and have five years to pay. The union’s estimates indicate the state would gain about $100 billion, essentially by legally assaulting the 200 most heinous people in the state.

If you followed the similar drama in New York during the ascent of Zohran Mamdani, you already know this next part by heart. According to the Times, Peter Thiel is currently considering opening an out-of-state office for Thiel Capital and is looking at how to spend less time in California. Larry Page, ranked by Forbes as the second richest person in the world at the time of this writinghas begun moving three LLCs to Florida, according to the Times.

David Lesperance, a tax advisor for billionaires, told the Times, “almost all of my clients are taking action as quickly as possible, both to break their California residency and to move their assets out of state.”

Billionaire tech and healthcare investor Chamath Palihapitiya also played a major role, with the following The message the Times cites here no longer appears to exist, perhaps because of Palihapitiya’s bizarre use of the term “regressive” in Opposite Day.

Palihapitiya’s X activity, however, shows that he has been in tears over this subject for days:

This idiotic attack, perpetrated by an incompetent California politician, on a productive California resident caused him to leave. It should be obvious to no one that this has already cost California tens of billions of dollars in lost taxes because of Elon and the plethora of well-paid employees who followed… pic.twitter.com/2aADLB4WWH

– Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) December 25, 2025

But are rich Americans really fleeing a state that has decided to tax them? Maybe, but that doesn’t seem to be the case at the moment. The state of Massachusetts passed something a little different: a more widespread income surtax for people earning more than $1 million, and after two years, there would be more tax-eligible millionaires in the state, not fewer.

So yes, billionaires, we know that if this ends up on the ballot and actually passes, most of you will call Californians who have less money than you ungrateful, naive children, and some of you will even follow through on your threat to leave. The question would be, is a fun state with good weather that also produces new billionaires all the time in reality? regret cause you to cough up some of your money in the long run? Who knows, but I doubt it a little.