A number of CEOs and founders of major tech companies across California are opposed to a ballot initiative proposing a one-time tax on billionaires.

The California “Billionaire Tax Act” is a ballot initiative that seeks to impose a 5 percent personal wealth tax on residents who have a net worth of over $1 billion in certain types of assets and live in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026. Revenue generated from the tax is intended to fund health care, food assistance, and education programs, according to the initiative’s text.

The proposal states that the “billionaire tax” can be paid in full along with any income tax owed for the 2026 tax year, or the taxpayer can split the tax into “five equal installments,” which would see an annual 7.5 percent deferral charge on the unpaid balance.

The initiative has until June 24, 2026, to gather 874,641 signatures to qualify for the November midterm election ballot.

Many California tech leaders have signaled their opposition to the initiative, with some taking steps to move business operations out of the state.

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman on Jan. 7 called the idea “badly designed in so many ways,” saying that taxing illiquid stock would be a “horrendous idea.”

“Poorly designed taxes incentivize avoidance, capital flight, and distortions that ultimately raise less revenue,” Hoffman added.

Venture capitalist David Sacks said late last year: “Why does California need a wealth tax? To fund the massive fraud. Red states like Texas and Florida don’t even have income taxes.”

Just three days later, Sacks announced his company, Craft Ventures, had opened a Texas office.

Sacks also previously floated the idea of leaving California in an October 2025 episode of the All-In Podcast—which he hosts alongside tech investors Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, and David Friedberg.

“I don’t want to [leave the state]. I really am resisting. I mean, they’ve raised my income tax to 13.3 percent,” Sacks said. “They’ve been boiling the frog. I still haven’t jumped out of the pot. But for me, I think the wealth tax, I’m going to have to jump out of the pot with this.”

In the same episode, Social Capital CEO Palihapitiya said: “They obviously got somebody very clever to draft it, because any Roth IRA over $10 million counts. And normally in these wealth calculations, you keep your deferred retirement accounts off the table. They’re typically not included.”

Palihapitiya continued the conversation in a Jan. 9 post on X. He said over $700 billion in billionaire wealth had left California in the past month, and he predicted that more wealth could leave by the end of 2026.

Palmer Luckey, Oculus founder and Anduril co-founder, said on X in December that he paid millions in taxes on the money he made from his first company, while the remaining money was used to start a second one that employs thousands of people. Additional taxes would “force founders like me to sell huge chunks of our companies,” Luckey added.

Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale wrote in a Jan. 7 post on X: “Healthcare special interests are pushing a CA wealth tax. ... The solution is to lift everyone up, not tear others down!”

Last month, PayPal and another Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel indicated his opposition to the wealth tax proposal by making a $3 million donation to the California Business Roundtable, a political action committee that opposes the initiative and advocates for reduced business regulations and lower taxes, according to donation disclosures on the California Secretary of State’s website.

Thiel has also expanded his out-of-state presence, opening a new Miami office for his private investment firm, Thiel Capital.

Google co-founder Larry Page relocated some of his investment entities out of the Golden State at the end of last year. According to business filings with the California Secretary of State’s office, several companies linked to Page show a “converted out” status and are listed as inactive as of December 2025: Flu Lab LLC, an influenza research fund financially backed by Page; One Aero LLC, a shell company Page created to fund flying car startups Zee.Aero and Kitty Hawk; and Dynatomics LLC, an AI startup Page founded.

Google’s other co-founder, Sergey Brin, also moved one of his companies out of state. Investment company T-Rex LLC was “converted out” in late December 2025 and registered in Delaware as T-Rex Holdings, according to California and Delaware business filings.

In contrast, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he is “perfectly fine” with the proposed billionaire tax. In a recent podcast episode with Bloomberg, Huang said his company operates in Silicon Valley, California, “because that’s where the talent pool is,” and that he is not concerned about the proposed tax.

The Billionaire Tax Act was initiated by SEIU-UHW, a labor union representing health care workers, in November 2025.

According to the initiative text, there are approximately 200 billionaires in California, and their collective wealth totals $2 trillion. Part of the tax money would go toward filling the $19 billion loss in federal funding for Medi-Cal.

Multiple Attempts at Wealth Tax

Gov. Gavin Newsom has consistently opposed the state’s attempts at imposing wealth taxes, saying the policy would disincentivize entrepreneurs and reduce long-term income tax revenue.

In 2020, state lawmakers proposed Assembly Bill 2088, which sought to impose an annual tax at a rate of 0.4 percent for residents who have a net worth in excess of $30 million. That bill died in its first committee hearing.

Two years later, Proposition 30 aimed to tax residents with annual incomes above $2 million. The money would have funded wildfire management and zero-emission vehicle incentives.

Newsom joined the California Teachers Association in opposing the idea, saying the measure was “fiscally irresponsible” and “would make our state’s finances more unstable.”

In 2023, lawmakers again attempted a “worldwide net worth” wealth tax with Assembly Bill 259. The bill included provisions that would allow California to continue taxing former residents who relocated to another state or moved abroad. The idea faced heavy criticism and also died in its first committee hearing.

In response to the newest attempt at a wealth tax, Newsom has remained critical of the idea, saying in a December interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit that he wants the Democratic Party to be a “big tent” party that includes people with multiple views on the issue.