Google co-founder Larry Page is reportedly preparing to flee California imminently over a billionaire tax as the state’s uber-wealthy hatch plans to protect their assets.
Page and venture capitalist Peter Thiel are among the billionaires actively working to cut ties with California because of a potential ballot measure that would tax 5% of their total wealth — which could equal a staggering $12 billion for Page and $1.2 billion for Thiel, per the New York Times.
Companies associated with Page filed documents to incorporate in Florida, according to documents cited by the Times. Thiel, a PayPal founder who owns a home in the Hollywood Hills, has explored opening an office for his venture firm outside of California.
Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist and former Facebook exec, separately confirmed in an X post to Sen. Ted Cruz that a move to Texas was under “serious consideration.”
Fans of the billionaire tax, which will appear on the November 2024 if advocates gather some 870,000 voter signatures by the spring, say it will raise some $100 million to aid the state’s ailing health care system by tapping the piggy banks of the approximately 200 Californians with net worths above $1 billion.
But The Post first reported that targets of the billionaire tax are making plans to change their residencies imminently — before the end of 2025 — because the proposed wealth tax would affect billionaires residing in California at the start of 2026.
The tax is sure to backfire, said David Lesperance, a tax advisor who works with California billionaires in venture capital and private equity.
That’s because the Golden State relies disproportionately on taxes from wealthy people, with the top 1% of earners contributing nearly 40% of income tax revenue as of 2022, according to a state budget analyst.
California’s legislative analyst acknowledged it was “likely” that some billionaires will leave the state rather than paying the tax, resulting in an ongoing loss of “hundreds of millions of dollars or more per year” in tax revenue.
And wealthy people are often the most easily able to pack up and move to tax-friendlier locales like Nevada, Florida or Texas, according to Lesperance.
“Those Golden Geese have wings!” he added.
Billionaires may take steps such as selling or renting California properties, spending less time in the state, moving business offices, and changing drivers’ license or voting registrations to prove that they reside elsewhere, Lesperance added.
A committee opposing the billionaire tax, called Stop the Squeeze, has raised $100,000 from venture capitalist Ron Conway.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has publicly opposed the billionaire’s tax, but could face pressure from progressives eager to milk more revenue from the state’s richest taxpayers.
Suzanne Jimenez, a chief of staff for the SEIU-UHW union behind the measure, called the one-time, 5% wealth tax a “very minor tax.”
“They’d still be paying less than what they were paying under President Reagan,” Jimenez said.
