The exodus of Silicon Valleytitans from California is gaining momentum as the state weighs a proposed wealth tax aimed at billionaires, including potential levies on unrealized gains, a measure that has stirred significant concern in the tech sector.
Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick revealed this week that he relocated from California to Texas last winter.
"On December 18th, I moved to Texas,” Kalanick said in an interview with TBPN on Friday. "So I'm a primary resident of Texas. Why so much Florida action?! Like, come on homies.”
California lawmakers are actively considering the wealth-tax proposal, which would target individuals with net worths above certain thresholds and include taxation of unrealized capital gains. The idea has reverberated through Silicon Valley, where several high-profile figures have already established residency elsewhere. Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have moved to Florida, drawn by its more favorable business and tax environment, while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg purchased a $150 million mansion in Miami. This week, Bloomberg reported that Palantir CEO Alex Karp scooped up a Miami-area mansion for $46 million, while the company itself has recently relocated from Denver to Florida.
Even Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder, prominent Democrat donor, and longtime buddy of convicted schrodinger's pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, has publicly criticized the proposal, describing California’s wealth tax tax as a “horrendous idea” that would hasten the departure of tech founders and executives from the state.
California is not alone among Democrat-leaning states experiencing such outflows. This week, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, a longtime backer of liberal causes, announced his relocation from Washington state to Miami, Florida, shortly after state legislators advanced a bill imposing a tax on residents earning more than $1 million annually.
"We have moved to Miami for our next adventure together. We are enjoying the sunshine of South Florida and its allure to our kids on the East Coast as they raise families of their own," he wrote in a Linkedin post.
Under Senate Bill 6346, known as the "millionaires tax," households with annual adjusted gross income exceeding $1 million would face a 9.9% state tax on the portion above that threshold. The levy would take effect Jan. 1, 2028, with the first tax payments and filings due in 2029.
The measure, which cleared the Legislature after extended debate, including a more than 24-hour session in the House, now awaits action from Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson (D), who has indicated he intends to sign it into law.