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

[u/Maxcactus]

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/20/nx-s1-5935597/california-billionaires-wealth-tax-sergey-brin

[u/Over_Flamingo_1853]

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.