r/Maxcactus_TrailGuide • u/Maxcactus • Aug 24 '26

Proposed California wealth tax sparks debate: Will billionaires leave the state?

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/20/nx-s1-5935597/california-billionaires-wealth-tax-sergey-brin
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u/Friendlyvoices Aug 24 '26

Probably not. Billionaires already know they don't pay their fair share and history has shown they don't really relocate in any number. Billionaires huff and puff about taxes all the time ans how they're job creators but most of them aren't at all. They already don't pay taxes for their wealth outside of property tax, and moving a business out of high talent areas is suicide.

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u/Unnamed-3891 Aug 24 '26

and history has shown they don't really relocate in any number

Citation needed.

Historical precedent in Norway, France, Sweden and most other countries that have tried it shows the very opposite of your claim.

Shit, the very change we are talking about right now is showing MANY ARE ALREADY LEAVING/LEFT.

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u/Over_Flamingo_1853 Aug 24 '26

Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/teresaghilarducci/2025/12/29/do-wealth-taxes-really-make-billionaires-leave/

U of Chicago https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/737165

Peer reviewed I believe: https://www.asanet.org/wp-content/uploads/attach/journals/jun16asrfeature.pdf

This line specifically undercuts the narrative that they’ll move: “In contrast, the
“embedded elites” perspective emphasizes
social and network costs of migration that
limit the attractiveness of moving for tax rea-
sons, and that ground millionaires in the
regions where they became successful (Dahl
and Sorenson 2009, 2012; Ruef et al. 2003;
Saxenian 1994).”

Or at least from what I’m reading, millionaire and billionaire talk a big game, but moving is more impactful to bottom line than simply paying the tax. Florida isn’t California. Texas isn’t Michigan. The extemporaneous geographical and social factors that change the states change the value proposition.