California’s 5% Wealth Tax Proposal Has Billionaires Thinking of Leaving and Fast

California Governor Gavin Newsom is pushing a retroactive billionaire tax targeting the roughly 220 billionaires residing in California in 2025, the Globe reported recently.

Clearly Gov. Newsom is ignoring that these individuals are the most financially mobile and can live anywhere. Expecting them to remain in the state as if they will happily and willingly hand over even more of their wealth surely must be facetious.

SEIU is sponsoring the “2026 Billionaires Tax Act” ballot initiative. The measure would impose a one-time 5% tax on individual wealth exceeding $1 billion.

The New York Times is even warning that “Billionaires including Peter Thiel, the tech venture capitalist, and Larry Page, a co-founder of Google, are considering cutting or reducing their ties to California by the end of the year because of a proposed ballot measure that could tax the state’s wealthiest residents, according to five people familiar with their thinking.”

“Mr. Thiel, 58, who owns a home in the Hollywood Hills and operates a personal investment firm from Los Angeles, has explored opening an office for that firm, Thiel Capital, in another state and spending more time outside California, three of the people said.

“Other billionaires who appear to be making moves to decrease their presence in California include Mr. Page, 52, a longtime resident of Palo Alto. He has discussed leaving the state by the end of the year, according to two people briefed on the talks. In mid-December, three limited liability companies associated with Mr. Page filed documents to incorporate in Florida, according to state records.”

May I offer a DUH?

What should be obvious to everyone with two braincells is apparently lost on the arrogant Democrat California Congressman Ro Khanna, who dubiously claims it’s a 1% wealth tax on billionaires, and then offers a pompous “I will miss them very much.”

Ahem. It’s a 5% tax. Only later in the X thread does he admit that it’s 1% a year for 5 years. That’s 5%.

Peter Thiel is leaving California if we pass a 1% tax on billionaires for 5 years to pay for healthcare for the working class facing steep Medicaid cuts.

I echo what FDR said with sarcasm of economic royalists when they threatened to leave, "I will miss them very much." https://t.co/5N8FxBqJww

— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) December 27, 2025

Again, later in the thread, Khanna attempts to justify the 5% tax: “It’s 1 percent a year for 5 years so Californians can have health insurance!”

Why didn’t he claim “it’s for the children?”

Plenty of commenters warned that this new 5% tax on billionaires will destroy innovation in California. Does anyone really think this will stop at 5%? Or that it will only apply to billionaires?

Rather than taxing California’s creative innovators and employers, maybe the Democrat Supermajority running everything could investigate the $76 billion of welfare fraud the State Auditor recently exposed. Or the $31 billion in unemployment fraud during Covid. Or put an end once and for all to the fraudulent high speed rail grift. Or the cap and trade grift tax on California businesses partially funding the high speed rail grift.

Gary Tan warns:

“A simpler explainer on the effects. It won’t just be Page and Thiel. It will stop future Googles and Nvidias from even starting in our state. Why would you be for this? Unrealized taxes on the fastest growing startups make sure the California dream ends for everyone.”

A simpler explainer on the effects. It won’t just be Page and Thiel. It will stop future Googles and Nvidias from even starting in our state.

Why would you be for this?

Unrealized taxes on the fastest growing startups make sure the California dream ends for everyone pic.twitter.com/wxhNS210I0

— Garry Tan (@garrytan) December 27, 2025

Soledad Ursua said, “We are about to witness the decapitalization of California.”

“Why stop with billionaires?! why stop at 5%?! keep going, ro, keep going!!” said David Friedberg.

Pollster Scott Rasmussen addressed the appetite for this new 5% tax on billionaires (or lack thereof):

“Just 14% Favor Taxing Unrealized Gains on stock sales….50% think profits from stock sales think they should be taxed when sold, 25% say they should never be taxed.”

David Sacks weighed in:

“To be clear, the Billionaire Tax Act in California is not (just) an unrealized gains tax. It’s a 5% across-the-board confiscation of net worth. It applies even if one has already realized and paid taxes on the entire amount.”

And Susan Shelley warns:

“Watch out for this: The union backing the Billionaire Tax Act initiative can collect signatures to put it on the ballot, then negotiate with the legislature/governor for a different tax and pass that with a 2/3 vote in exchange for taking the Billionaire Tax Act off the ballot.”

California has been bleeding residents and their tax revenue for many years with moves to states with no income tax or very low income tax – Florida, Texas, Arizona, Idaho, Tennessee, South Carolina, Nevada, and even Washington State, as the Globe has warned:

Chevron Oil Company, X/Twitter, Space X, Oracle, Hewlett Packard, Charles Schwab, and Toyota Motor North America, Nissei America, Inc., The Joe Rogan Experience, Gordon Ramsay North America, The Rubin Report, to name just a few of the businesses leaving California because of the state’s leftist/Marxist politics and regulatory environment.

California is losing a taxpayer roughly every minute to other states, yet Gov. Newsom and Democrats are doubling down and still gouging taxpayers and businesses with some of the highest taxes, fees and draconian regulations in the nation. Now, they want to add billionaires to this long list. Because that is what will happen – they will leave, and maybe even faster than one billionaire every minute.