A Wealth Tax Floated in California Has Billionaires Thinking of Leaving | Hacker News Reader

A Wealth Tax Floated in California Has Billionaires Thinking of Leaving

nytimes.com

24 pointsvinni240 comments

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.

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.

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.

Tax their companies too.

https://archive.ph/1Bu8V

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/technology/california-wea...

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.

yea, it is just so difficult to move a business out of state… :)

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.

South Florida is sunny coastal area with a friendly government, lots of mansions, lovely weather, large economy.

lovely weather*

* outside of the frequent storms and hurricanes

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.

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.

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.

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.

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…)

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 :)

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?

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.

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)

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.

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.

I am not a billionaire, but I left California largely for tax reasons too. I am in Washington state which has no income tax. If Washington state adds an income tax, I will move to another state. It is easy for wealthy people to move. And they will absolutely move not just in name. I can have just as much fun in Florida or Texas or Mexico city or St. Martin or Aspen or Spain as I can have in California. It costs a few thousand dollars to move, a rounding error for a wealthy person.

These tax laws that are so hostile to entrepreneurs will result in vast long term losses to the states that turn to socialism.

People who are able and willing to swap states on a whim don’t have roots. They’re mercenary citizens living in an insular wealth bubble. Money aside, what value do they bring to a community? I’d rather they just leave.

Every community I have lived in has benefitted enormously. I grew up in Washington state and built my first company here, employing several people in landscaping. When I lived in Los Angeles, I built a company employing over 100 Californians. Now that I am back in Washington state, I have a farm employing 5 people and have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in the local economy.

I have NEVER taken any benefits from the government. I have paid millions of dollars in taxes in California and millions more to Washington state. City and counties have likewise collected huge sums from my work.

People who move from place to place can contribute more than people who stay in one place living off the system.

> I have NEVER taken any benefits from the government

Except if course billions of dollars in infrastructure dedicated to enabling your business to succeed. Also, the audacity to say that you took "no benefits" while operating a farm....

What infrastructure? I started my farm two years ago and have taken zero government funds.

Heavily subsidized rural roads and utilities, tax incentives, all sorts of price subsidies depending on the crop. Police (which act primarily in the interests of capital), fire fighters, food safety inspectors to give people the confidence to buy agricultural products, social safety nets for the workers that farms pay as little as legally (or illegally) possible...

We desperately need to get RID of USDA inspectors so we can break the regulatory capture the big four meat processors have on meat sales. I live in WA state and have to pay $17 / hr minimum wage. You are regurgitating a lot of misinformation common on Reddit, have you ever run a farm or another business yourself? Please try starting a farm or business and your opinions will change rapidly as you see how things actually are.

Farm subsidies aren't opinions to be changed, they're hard facts. I live in the part of WA state that subsidizes all the red agricultural areas that love to talk about how much they hate us, I understand how the money flows.

https://joelx.com/farming-vs-service-businesses/

Well, I firmly believe that the social value of a human being far exceeds their financial impact. It’s almost tautological that if a person can pack up their suitcase and flee anytime taxation becomes slightly unfavorable, then they’re not socially or culturally integrated into local life. Like I said: a mercenary citizen.

You might have built businesses in California and Washington (and that’s great) but it doesn’t sound like you particularly care about being a Californian or Washingtonian. So who are your people? Who are you?

I am not arbitrarily defined by a state or a county, are you? Bizarre way to think...

I am defined by my family and my work and hobbies and my other relationships.

I'm also defined by my friends and family, but if I decide to move states because I don't want to pay taxes, they're certainly not going to follow me. As with most people, my social circle is largely built on connections in my local community, and is not portable.

How much money would it take for me to leave them behind and start anew? Certainly not 5% of my wealth (or even 20%). And even that calculation changes completely once a long-term partner and/or children are in the picture.

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.

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.

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

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.

It wont be "one time", which is why they are leaving.

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.

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