{"id":134647,"date":"2026-01-15T13:09:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T13:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/134647\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T13:09:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T13:09:25","slug":"california-millionaire-slams-larry-page-and-sergey-brin-for-cutting-ties-with-the-state-to-avoid-wealth-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/134647\/","title":{"rendered":"California millionaire slams Larry Page and Sergey Brin for cutting ties with the state to avoid wealth tax"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While some California billionaires are slamming the proposed wealth tax and cutting ties with the state<\/a>, other wealthy citizens are stepping forward to defend the policy.<\/p>\n

Dave Nixon, a former healthcare executive, relocated from Florida to Pasadena, California, in 2022 in search of a community that more closely aligned with his values. He is a member of Patriotic Millionaires, an organization of affluent Americans that advocates for a fairer tax system, livable wages, and equal access to political power.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just felt like education, healthcare, all the things I care about that equalize society, were not being paid attention to [in Florida],\u201d Nixon said in an interview with Fortune. \u201cI still think that California does a better job on those things that matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

California\u2019s latest proposal to tax extreme wealth, the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act, would impose a one-time 5% levy on the net worth of residents with assets of at least $1 billion, a category that currently pays no recurring wealth tax beyond existing income and capital-gains taxes. The measure is projected to raise on the order of $100 billion and would channel roughly 90% of the new revenue into health care programs, with the remainder earmarked for education, food assistance, and administering the tax through a dedicated reserve fund.<\/p>\n

Nixon previously wrote<\/a> in Fortune about his disapproval of wealthy residents threatening to leave high-tax states such as New York and Illinois for lower-tax states like Florida and Texas. He remains skeptical of the claim that raising taxes will prompt a widespread flight of wealthy residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat idea is a myth, an empty threat constantly laid down by millionaires across the country looking for a way to discourage state lawmakers from raising their taxes,\u201d he wrote. \u201cCalifornia\u2019s higher taxes on wealthy people like me are exactly what makes it the kind of state I want to live in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the state\u2019s more than 200 billionaires<\/a> have weighed in on the proposed tax policy, with varying opinions. Venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Google<\/a> founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are reportedly preparing to abandon<\/a> the state for Florida. Other billionaires such, as Nvidia<\/a> CEO Jensen Huang, said<\/a> it \u201cnever crossed [his] mind\u201d to leave the state because of the tax.<\/p>\n

When asked about Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page\u2019s recent actions, Nixon said, \u201cIt\u2019s sickening and greedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia has been very good to them and has supported an innovation economy that, for example, the founders of Google have benefited from,\u201d Nixon said. The state has long been home to Big Tech and has incentivized companies to stay and grow through tax credits<\/a>. In 2025, California signed deals with Google, Adobe<\/a>, IBM<\/a>, and Microsoft<\/a>, to bring AI training into high schools, community colleges, and the California State University system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just disappointed in anybody that doesn\u2019t see it as a responsibility to pay their fair share of taxes,\u201d Nixon said.<\/p>\n

Maureen Kennedy, another member of Patriotic Millionaires, is a philanthropist based in Marin County who has lived in California since 1996. A former federal housing policy official under former President Bill Clinton, she said it\u2019s up to the state to figure out how to offset healthcare costs. She agrees with the rationale behind the bill, which would use the tax to fund health care, education, and food assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a high-cost state, and [healthcare costs] have been outstripping increases in wages,\u201d Kennedy said. Health spending increased<\/a> 7.5% between 2022 and 2023, whereas average wages grew by 4.43% during that period, according to the Social Security Administration<\/a>. Employers expect healthcare costs to increase by 9% in 2026 if they don\u2019t try to lower costs, according to a survey<\/a> from Mercer.<\/p>\n

About 3.4 million Californians are expected to lose<\/a> MediCal coverage after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act cut nearly a trillion dollars from Medicaid over the next ten years and added new work requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigher income working people like I was before I retired pay a very large percentage of their income in California, but the billionaire class don\u2019t pay that,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

Billionaires averaged a 24% tax rate between 2018 and 2020, compared with 30% for the total population and 45% for top income earners, according to a 2025 paper published<\/a> in the National Bureau of Economic Research.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican ethos is built on playing by the rules and paying your fair share,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cThis is a way to, on a one time basis, only get them to pay their fair share.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While some California billionaires are slamming the proposed wealth tax and cutting ties with the state, other wealthy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,68783,1977,68781,36511,16090,19870,68782],"class_list":{"0":"post-134647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-healthcare-executive","12":"tag-pasadena","13":"tag-proposed-tax-policy","14":"tag-sergey-brin","15":"tag-tax-credits","16":"tag-wealth-tax","17":"tag-wealthy-residents"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}