California’s 2026 Billionaire Tax Act (Initiative No. 25-0024) is a citizen-led ballot measure, sponsored by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, that proposes a one-time 5% excise tax on the global net worth of individuals exceeding $1 billion. The kicker: a retroactive residency snapshot date of January 1, 2026, with voters deciding in November 2026. That created a late-2025 decision window for roughly 200 individuals: stay and risk a 5% levy on entire global wealth, or relocate domicile before New Year’s.
The measure was projected to raise about $100 billion for Medi-Cal, food assistance, and education. Hoover Institution analysis found that nearly 30% of the tax base departed before the initiative qualified, dropping projected revenue from $100B to roughly $40B, with a Net Present Value estimated at negative $24.7B once lost future income tax revenue is factored in. By the time the dust settled, roughly $1.1 trillion in wealth had effectively left California’s prospective tax base. Here is who walked, in order of net worth.
1. Larry Page (Florida) $274.7B
The Alphabet co-founder established primary residency in Florida and purchased over $173 million in real estate in Miami’s Coconut Grove. He converted his family office Koop from a California-based entity to a Delaware corporation with a Florida address. Page and Brin’s combined departure alone accounted for an estimated $26.7 billion reduction in the initiative’s projected revenue.
2. Sergey Brin (Florida) $253.4B
Brin acquired a $51 million waterfront mansion on Allison Island in Miami and shifted Alphabet-controlled entities to Florida to sever California ties. He also co-founded “Building a Better California,” a PAC that raised tens of millions to oppose the tax, with backers including Eric Schmidt and Patrick Collison pushing the opposition war chest to roughly $90 million.
3. Mark Zuckerberg (Florida) $239.0B
In early 2026, news surfaced that Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan were acquiring a $170 million estate on Miami’s Indian Creek island, the so-called Billionaire Bunker that already houses Jeff Bezos and Carl Icahn. A Meta spokesperson declined to confirm the residence change, but the scale and timing told the story. Under the wealth tax, Zuckerberg would have owed approximately $12 billion. As advisors put it, billionaires at this level “plan three moves ahead”.
4. Peter Thiel (Florida) $27.5B
The PayPal and Palantir co-founder shifted his family investment firm’s operations from California to Miami in late December 2025. His company remains headquartered in Los Angeles, but personal residency and family office functions moved east. Thiel cited California’s “hostile” tax environment as the trigger.
5. Travis Kalanick (Texas) $8.7B
The Uber founder and current CEO of Atoms (formerly City Storage Systems) officially completed his move to Austin on December 18, 2025. Asked about the timing on a podcast, he said “let’s just say it’s prior to January”. Had he stayed, he stood to owe approximately $180 million to $435 million. The relocation came with a corporate rebrand and a pivot toward industrial robotics and AI.
6. Don Hankey (Nevada) $8.2B
The Los Angeles native who built a fortune in car loans left his Malibu estate for a $21 million penthouse in Las Vegas, saying high-net-worth individuals were no longer “wanted” in California. Las Vegas luxury agents reported the California share of buyers jumped from 25% to nearly 80% after the tax was proposed.
7. Steven Spielberg (New York) $7.1B
The director established new primary residency in New York City on New Year’s Day 2026. Representatives emphasized a desire to be closer to family, but the timing landing exactly on the residency snapshot date prompted fiscal analysts to include him in the tax-motivated cohort.
The Counterexample, and the Audit Risk
One notable holdout stayed put. NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) CEO Jensen Huang said he is “perfectly fine” with the tax even though it would cost him roughly $8 billion, citing Silicon Valley’s talent and innovation as worth the price.
The departures may also face challenges. The California Franchise Tax Board’s “close connection” residency audits can claw back domicile claims, and the agency completed 520 residency audits in 2023, more than double 2019. The vote happens in November. The bill, in present-value terms, may already be due.
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