Tech Billionaires Threaten to Flee California—Again

Tech billionaires in California are furious. A new proposal for a wealth tax on the super rich has them packing their bags and threatening to leave the Golden State for good.

Again.

Oligarchs regularly make such threats and fail to follow through, so we must take such antics with a grain of salt. But the possibility of a new tax on super wealth shows that backlash against the fat cat class is coming, and the billionaires’ threats to flee show just how much they fear fairness and accountability.

The Service Employees International Union-United Health Workers union is pushing a ballot measure to impose a one-time 5% tax on California billionaires. If approved by voters, it would apply retroactively to anyone living in the state on January 1, 2026.

The New York Times reports that some California billionaires are looking for a quick exit:

Billionaires including Peter Thiel, the tech venture capitalist, and Larry Page, a co-founder of Google, are considering cutting or reducing their ties to California by the end of the year because of a proposed ballot measure that could tax the state’s wealthiest residents, according to five people familiar with their thinking.

Page (net worth: $258 billion) would owe $12 billion, reports the NYT, while Thiel would owe $1.2 billion. About 200 billionaires total would contribute roughly $100 billion to offset the federal budget cuts their preferred political project is about to unleash on the country, according to the union.

While the measure is not yet on the ballot, the billionaires are panicking. And they have a powerful ally: California governor Gavin Newsom, the former right-wing podcaster who is running for president in 2028. Newsom “is raising money for a committee to oppose the measure,” per the NYT. (So thoughtful of Newsom to come to the aid of the poor suffering billionaires at this particular time in history.)

Billionaires regularly threaten to abandon California. It’s a go-to move any time they don't like a law or policy. The right-wing media, like Chicken Little, has spent decades crying that the sky is falling in California. “Everyone leaving California” is one of their favorite storylines.

In 2021, Thiel was among the tech billionaires who supposedly relocated to Florida as part of a great Silicon Valley migration. He even spent $18 million on two mansions in Miami Beach.

“Thiel has joined a growing list of high-profile business leaders leaving California to move their businesses elsewhere over the course of the pandemic,” reported Fox.

But now he’s back in Los Angeles. In reality, he just couldn’t quit California.

If the billionaires are this scared, we can assume that polls show strong support for the tax. A recent poll by the Economist/YouGov found that 60% of Americans think billionaires don't pay enough in taxes and 80% think rich people have too much power. Those numbers will likely be much higher in California.

Even Ro Khanna, Silicon Valley’s congressman, has jumped on the bandwagon.

“I echo what FDR said with sarcasm of economic royalists when they threatened to leave, ‘I will miss them very much,’” Khanna, who is cozy with some of the worst billionaires in tech, wrote on X.

This drew howls of protest from several tech zillionaires, who are now threatening to fund a primary challenge against him.

A ballot measure targeting California billionaires could put a white-hot spotlight on the Silicon Valley oligarchs backing the fascist Trump regime. Names will be named, faces will be flashed onto millions of screens. Voters will get a chance to flex their power over the billionaires who currently have their claws around the throat of American democracy.

These billionaires have openly supported Trump’s authoritarian regime because they can’t fathom the idea of being held accountable for their actions. But the future is coming fast, and with it a tremendous backlash against the evils and excesses of Silicon Valley.

If I have one criticism of this proposal, it’s that the tax doesn't go far enough. It’s quite modest compared to the scale of wealth extraction we’re witnessing and the existential threat these billionaires pose to democratic governance. But it’s a start.

Tech billionaires have operated for too long in a consequence-free environment. They’ve broken our laws, invaded our privacy, polarized our society, and harvested our data. They’ve funded authoritarian movements, promoted techno-feudal governance models, and actively worked to dismantle democratic institutions.

To save democracy and freedom, we must galvanize a popular movement to defeat billionaire power. We need a French Revolution—with taxes instead of guillotines.

The sooner, the better.

Tech Dreams of Britain

Peter Thiel has apparently pivoted from Antichrist warnings to a new theme. From the New York Times:

This month, Mr. Thiel held a Christmas party at his Hollywood Hills mansion, where guests talked with him about the implications of the potential California ballot initiative, said two attendees, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The party’s theme was all things Britain, the country that American revolutionaries revolted against in 1775 over taxation.

US tech billionaires do seem to have an interesting obsession with the United Kingdom. Elon Musk has been regularly inserting himself into UK politics, inflaming anti-immigrant attitudes and warning of civilizational decline.

“Violence is coming to you,” Musk said in a speech to a far-right anti-immigrant rally in England, calling for “revolutionary government change.”

Thiel guru Curtis Yarvin has become a regular visitor across the pond, where his rambling screeds have found some new fans among posh fascist types. Meanwhile, Yarvin has raised the prospect of fleeing into exile once the Trump regime collapses.

And now Yarvin has a prominent new convert in the UK: Former prime minister Liz Truss. During an interview with Yarvin for her new podcast, the woman who only lasted 44 days as the UK’s top leader gave Yarvin’s anti-democracy ideas her full-throated endorsement. Truss said the UK government needs a dramatic change—a full reboot.

“I agree with you, having spent 10 years in the system, you need to start from scratch,” Truss told Yarvin.

“If we want to fix Britain, we must reclaim executive power,” read the liner notes for Truss’ interview with Yarvin, titled “Britain’s Broken State.” “Liz interviews tech visionary and political thinker Curtis Yarvin. They discuss how to dismantle the deep state Blob and restore a decisive, sovereign Parliament to drive real change.”

Readers in the UK assure me that no one takes Truss seriously. After all, this is the prime minister who was famously outlasted by a head of lettuce. But keep an eye on Silicon Valley oligarchs and their ilk as they take a more intense interest in UK politics in 2026.

After all, much of the tech fascist ideology was incubated there.

Musical Interlude

Should five percent appear too small/Be careful I don’t take it all