USA: Californians reject billionaire tax

They weren't entirely wrong in their assessment that some of California's super-rich might leave the state. Some have already taken steps to relocate their official residence.

For example, Brin and his Google co-founder Larry Page bought tens of millions of dollars worth of properties in Florida - a Republican stronghold.

Nvidia boss Huang promises loyalty – to California

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg approached the matter differently: he enforced a new share structure at the Facebook group by threatening to move. In a stock split, new shares without voting rights are issued, so that Zuckerberg could have sold part of them to pay the tax without losing influence. However, the head of the chip company Nvidia, Jensen Huang, who was in the headlines because of an affair with a suspected Chinese spy, said that leaving California because of the tax was out of the question for him.

The levy should also address the problem that it is easy for the super-rich in the US to avoid paying taxes. Their assets often consist of large blocks of shares and taxes would only be due if they sell some of them. Instead, they often take out loans secured by shares and can therefore live largely tax-free. Advocates of the levy argued that California is home to around 250 billionaires with a total wealth of about $2.3 trillion.