California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is blasting the state’s “billionaire tax” ballot initiative and demanding the state become an “engine of entrepreneurship” again on “The Bottom Line.”
Silicon Valley’s wealthiest residents are once again threatening to leave California, this time over a proposed wealth tax that tech founders warn could fundamentally reshape the place where innovation — and capital — call home.
The proposal, backed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, would impose a one-time 5% tax on California residents’ assets worth more than $1 billion.
Advocates say the revenue could help offset federal health care cuts.
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Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries, spoke out against the proposed ballot measure on (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Even with the measure still under consideration for the November statewide ballot, some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent figures are warning it could trigger an exodus of founders and capital.
Palmer Luckey, co-founder of defense technology startup Anduril, said the tax would “force founders like me to sell large parts of our companies” to pay for what he described as “fraud, waste and political favors for the organizations driving this ballot initiative.”
“I made my money with my first company, paid hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes on it, used the rest to start a second company that employs six thousand people and now me and my co-founders have to raise billions of dollars in cash somehow,” Luckey wrote on X.
Luckey’s comments come as billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel and Google co-founder Larry Page consider whether to cut ties with “The Golden State” over the proposed ballot measure, according to a New York Times report. report.
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Palantir co-founder and chairman Peter Thiel is worth about $27.5 billion and could owe more than $1.2 billion if the measure becomes law in California. (Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg/Getty Images/Getty Images)
If the measure qualifies for the November ballot and is approved by voters, it would apply retroactively to anyone who lived in California as of Jan. 1, 2026.
Practically speaking, a resident with $20 billion in wealth on that date would owe a one-time tax of $1 billion, payable over five years.
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman echoed these concerns, calling California “on a path to self-destruction” if the measure passes.
“Hollywood is already at its best and now its most prolific entrepreneurs will leave and take their tax revenue and job creation elsewhere,” the head of Pershing Square wrote on X.
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California Governor Gavin Newsom has previously said he opposes the proposed billionaires tax. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Earlier this month, California’s governor said. Gavin Newsom said he opposed the proposed billionaires tax, while warning against panic over the measure.
“It’s not something to panic about, but it’s part of the broader concern and the narrative that has been developing in this country of the haves and have-nots, not just income inequality, but wealth inequality,” Newsom told an audience at The New York Times’ DealBook conference.
