Billionaires are planning to pack up and leave California in protest over a proposed ballot measure seeking to heavily tax the state’s wealthiest residents.
Venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Google co-founder Larry Page are among those plotting to flee, according to The New York Times.
Three companies associated with Page have filed documents of incorporation in Florida, the outlet reported.
Tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya also confirmed earlier this week that he has given ‘serious consideration’ to relocating to Texas if the measure goes ahead.
He said: ‘The inevitable outcome will be an exodus of the state’s most talented entrepreneurs who can and will choose to build their companies in less regressive states.’
The threats come in response to a ballot measure proposed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West union, which was cleared for campaign by the state Attorney General’s Office.
The union proposes hitting Californians worth over $1 billion where it hurts most with a 5 percent tax on every dollar of their vast fortunes.
If the measure gathers enough signatures, lands on the November ballot and wins voter approval, it would affect anyone living in the West Coast state as of January 1, 2026.
High-net-worth tax and immigration adviser David Lesperance admitted that nearly all of his clients are ‘taking steps as quickly as possible both to sever California residence and to move assets out of the state’, according to the NYT.
Miami real estate agent Brett Harris also told the outlet that five California billionaires had already contacted him, exploring a move to Florida to ‘offset their risk of exposure to the billionaire tax’.
However, Harris noted, if the measure fails, those same billionaires ‘may end up moving back to California.’
According to the union, the measure aims to tackle the ‘growing gap’ between hefty executive salaries and the real-world challenges faced by patients and frontline staff.
‘At a time when healthcare executives are collecting multimillion-dollar paychecks while patients delay care and frontline workers struggle to make ends meet, it’s clear the system is broken,’ ultrasound technologist Mayra Casteneda said.
‘This initiative is about putting healthcare dollars where they belong – into patient care, safer staffing and expanding access – instead of rewarding healthcare executives for maintaining a status quo that puts profits over patient care.’
One term of the measure would cap pay for executives, administrators and managers at both nonprofit and for-profit hospitals and medical groups at $450,000 per year.