Peter Thiel and Larry Page plan to leave California if state approves billionaire wealth tax: Report
🇺🇸 CA DEMS TARGET BILLIONAIRES WITH 5% WEALTH GRAB: THIEL & PAGE FLEEING TO ESCAPE $12B+ BILLS!
— Bill Mitchell (@mitchellvii) December 27, 2025
Radical union pushes insane "2026 Billionaire Tax Act" – a one-time 5% tax on ALL assets of California's ~200 billionaires to fund bloated healthcare!
Larry Page (net worth ~$258B)… pic.twitter.com/p4N1jRNVvR
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Tech billionaires are thinking about leaving California. A new ballot measure might hit their wealth with extra taxes to fund healthcare.
Big guns like Peter Thiel, a venture capitalist, and Larry Page, Google’s co-founder, are reportedly looking at scaling back their California ties by the end of the year if the measure passes.
The plan is backed by the Service Employees International Union - United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW). It is expected to raise about $100 billion, which would be used to help pay for healthcare and cover federal funding cuts.
Peter Thiel and Larry Page consider leaving California ahead of a possible wealth tax
According to The New York Times, venture capitalist Peter Thiel has looked into spending more time outside California and even opening an office for his Los Angeles-based firm, Thiel Capital, in another state.
Google co-founder Larry Page has talked about leaving California by the end of the year, sources told the Times. Meanwhile, three of his companies have filed to incorporate in Florida.
Tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya also warned about the risks of a wealth tax, saying it could bankrupt the state. He wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “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."
California is proposing a 5% excise tax on “billionaires”. I put it in quotes because it proposes counting everything and the kitchen sink as a dragnet to qualify as many people as possible.
— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) December 22, 2025
But what they are really doing is breaking the seal on a trend that will bankrupt the… https://t.co/IUZBkGvmqN
"All that will be left behind is the middle class. The tax burden, then, will fall to the middle class because after the ‘richest’ choose to leave, the middle class are both (a) the only ones left and (b) are the largest source of state income to extract taxes from," he added.
Wealth tax hike aimed at funding healthcare and education
Some of California’s wealthiest residents are considering leaving the state, backed by the healthcare union, Service Employees International Union - United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW). The tax is designed to generate revenue for essential public services, including healthcare and education.
Most of the money raised (about 90 per cent) would be used to support healthcare services. For instance, a billionaire with $20 billion in assets could face a one-time $1 billion tax, which would be payable over a period of five years, as per Fortune.
What is the billionaire wealth tax?
As per Ballot Analysis, the California billionaire wealth tax is a proposed ballot measure called the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act. It would charge a one‑time tax of about 5 per cent on the total net worth of people who live in California and have $1 billion or more in wealth as of January 1, 2026.
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.
— David Sacks (@DavidSacks) December 27, 2025
“Net worth” means the total value of things someone owns (like stocks, businesses, and other assets) minus what they owe.
To appear on the ballot, the proposal must collect enough signatures so voters can decide on it.
