Business Leaders React to California’s Wealth Tax Proposal

The billionaire CEO of Pershing Square Holdings wrote on X in December that he was “opposed to wealth taxes because they effectively represent an expropriation of private property,” which can have “unintended and negative consequences.”

However, he said he’s in favor of a “fairer tax system.”

For example, Ackman wrote that an individual who had amassed a billion dollars or more in wealth could pay no personal income tax by living off loans secured by stock in their company. A change in the tax code could fix that problem, he wrote.

“One shouldn’t be able to live and spend like a billionaire and pay no tax,” Ackman wrote.

As for California’s “budget problems,” Ackman wrote that the issue wasn’t a lack of tax revenue — it was about “how the money is being spent.”

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang doesn’t seem to be losing sleep about it.

Huang, who was ranked the ninth-richest person in the world with a net worth of $155 billion as of January 6, told Bloomberg TV that the tax hadn’t crossed his mind while “trying to build the future of AI.”

“I’ve got to tell you, I have not even thought about it once,” Huang told Ludlow. “We chose to live in Silicon Valley, and whatever taxes they would like to apply, so be it. I’m perfectly fine with it.”

Nvidia is based in Silicon Valley because “that’s where the talent pool is,” he said.

The Congressman for California’s 17th district, which covers much of Silicon Valley, said that the proposal was “good for American innovation.”

After receiving thousands of comments on a December 26 post bidding a sarcastic goodbye to those threatening to leave the state, Khanna explained his support in a seven-paragraph X post on Saturday.

He wrote that Nvidia would be built all over again, even with the wealth tax.

“Jensen [Huang] wasn’t thinking I won’t start this company because I may have to one day pay a 1% tax on my billions,” Khanna wrote. “He built here because the talent is here.”

Khanna argued that innovation would be further stifled by the “political dysfunction and social unrest” that comes with wide wealth gaps.

In a statement to Business Insider, Sarah Drory, a spokesperson for Rep. Khanna, wrote that the representative has “always supported a modest wealth tax on billionaires to deal with staggering inequality and to make sure people have healthcare.”

“He has advocated for common sense workarounds for startup founders whose companies are not profitable and who have illiquid stock,” Drory wrote.

The billionaire Oculus founder and Anduril cofounder wrote in a December X post that the tax would force founders to “sell huge chunks of our companies.”

Luckey wrote that he made money from Oculus — which he sold to Facebook in 2014 — and paid hundreds of millions in taxes on it. Then he used the “remainder” to start Anduril, he wrote.

“Now me and my cofounders have to somehow come up with billions of dollars in cash,” Luckey wrote.

Luckey also wrote that the policy made no provision for companies that funnel revenue back to research and development, rather than paying cash incomes sizable enough to cover the tax.

“You are effectively forcing companies to immediately pivot into profit obsession over mission or long-term sustainability,” he wrote.

The Tesla CEO reposted another user’s X post that commented on the tax, saying that his stocks weren’t wealth.

Musk wrote in his December post that his “wealth” was mostly tied up in Tesla and SpaceX shares.

“This means my ‘wealth’ can only increase due to producing more products and services for the public,” he wrote.

While not directly commenting on the California tax, Musk wrote that he was a “maker,” unlike “taker” politicians like Sanders.

Musk said in 2020 that he had moved from California to Texas.

The governor of California has spoken against the wealth tax. At The New York Times’ Dealbook conference in December, Newsom said that California had to stay competitive with other states.

“People of that status, they already have two or three homes outside the state,” he said. “You’ve got to be pragmatic about it.”

If the tax passes as a ballot measure, Newsom would not have the ability to veto it.

The Reddit cofounder wrote on X that addressing the “rapidly increasing wealth gap” will be required to “preserve our republic” — but that the billionaire tax wouldn’t help.

“The answer is definitely not taxing unrealized gains,” he wrote in December.

Three days later, Ohanian replied to his post, writing that he had received death threats. He wrote that he doesn’t oppose taxation but he is against a tax proposal that is “objectively broken” and makes Democrats look “financially illiterate.”

The billionaire Google cofounder is cutting ties with California.

Page converted several entities from California to Delaware incorporation, including his family office and Flu Lab LLC, Business Insider first reported. One Aero, which funds Page’s flying car ventures, lists its principal office in Florida.

A source close to Page told Business Insider that the Google cofounder had already left the state. Whether Page’s move is temporary could not be learned.

The New York Times reported in December that Page had told people he was considering moving out of California in response to the proposed billionaire tax.

The White House AI and crypto czar took aim at California’s government in an X post in December.

Red states like Texas and Florida don’t employ state income taxes, let alone wealth taxes, Sacks wrote. “Democrats steal everything, then blame job creators for their ‘greed,'” he wrote.

Sacks said in an October episode of the “All-In” podcast, which he cohosts, that a wealth tax “always backfires,” because tax benefits are outweighed by wealthy residents leaving.

Sacks threatened to leave the state, analogizing steady tax increases to boiling a frog on the podcast.

“I’m going to have to jump out of the pot with this,” he said.

In January, Sacks made a bold prediction on X. Austin, he wrote, would overtake San Francisco as the American tech hub, while Miami would overtake New York for finance.

The CEO of startup accelerator Y Combinator wrote in a December X post that the tax would “kill little tech in California.”

Unicorn startup founders become a “paper billionaire” around the $5 billion valuation point, Tan wrote.

The proposed tax is on unrealized gains, meaning founders would be put on the line even before their wealth is liquid, Tan wrote.

If the tax passed, Tan wrote that Y Combinator would consider opening Austin or Cambridge programs.

Three days later, Tan explained why Y Combinator hadn’t yet opened an Austin branch.

“It is much more likely that people create successful PMF unicorns staying in SF Bay Area at a rate of 2.5x more,” he wrote on X. “NYC is about 2x.”

The billionaire investor, who cofounded PayPal and Palantir, recently opened a Miami office.

Thiel Capital opened a Wynwood office in December, per a press release. The office will “complement Thiel Capital’s existing operations in Los Angeles,” the firm said.

The announcement came days after The New York Times reported that Thiel was considering spending more time out of state in response to the tax proposal.

Update: December 30, 2025 — This story was updated to reflect how much Palmer Luckey said he paid in taxes when he sold Oculus. It was hundreds of millions, not millions of dollars.