{"id":218193,"date":"2026-03-13T14:43:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/218193\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T14:43:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T14:43:07","slug":"proposed-california-wealth-tax-drives-billionaire-exodus-to-florida-real-estate-locals-confirm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/218193\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed California wealth tax drives billionaire exodus to Florida real estate, locals confirm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">MIAMI, Fla. &#8211; Florida real estate managers and city officials are reporting an influx of California billionaires hoping to relocate due to concerns over a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/blue-states-billionaire-exodus-about-get-much-worse-2026-warns-insider\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">potential wealth tax<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">A recent initiative proposed by the Service Employees International Union\u2013United Healthcare Workers West would impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/west\/california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">California<\/a> residents with assets exceeding $1 billion. Though the proposal does not yet qualify for the November 2026 ballot, its push is already motivating billionaires to flee to the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">&#8220;The California guys, all billionaires, are running away from the wealth tax,&#8221; Brett Harris of Bespoke Real Estate in Miami told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/business\/story\/2026-03-11\/inside-exodus-of-california-tech-billionaires-to-florida\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the Los Angeles Times<\/a> Wednesday. &#8220;I have three things under contract north of $600 million.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/california-regret-billionaire-exodus-washington-post-editorial-warns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CALIFORNIA WILL REGRET BILLIONAIRE EXODUS, WASHINGTON POST EDITORIAL WARNS<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">Chase Berger, a lawyer who specializes in real estate transactions, also told the Los Angeles Times that he has seen a growth in &#8220;stealth ownership&#8221; deals to purchase <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/us-regions\/southeast\/florida\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Florida<\/a> land by wealthy clients.<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">&#8220;I used to do a handful of these a year&#8230; now it\u2019s dozens,&#8221; Berger said, adding, &#8220;It\u2019s a residency war with California that they\u2019re fighting.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">Florida developers and landowners have even begun preparing cities beyond <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/us\/miami\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Miami<\/a> and Palm Beach for potential residents, acknowledging that coastal areas are in high demand.<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">&#8220;Florida is the new California,&#8221; Palm Beach County Commissioner Maria Sachs said. &#8220;It reminds me of the California of the \u201850s and \u201860s, where people flocked for jobs and to raise families and there was great weather.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/tax-fight-puts-california-collision-course-billionaires-leave-red-states\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">TAX FIGHT PUTS CALIFORNIA ON COLLISION COURSE AS BILLIONAIRES LEAVE FOR RED STATES<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">California Gov. Gavin Newsom has come out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/politics\/newsom-says-california-wealth-tax-really-damaging-billionaires-move-money-businesses-out-of-state\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">against the wealth tax<\/a>, saying that it &#8220;makes no sense,&#8221; and that it&#8217;s &#8220;really damaging to the state.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">&#8220;I have a very specific agenda that I\u2019m trying to follow, and then also [be] very pragmatic about what I don\u2019t know \u2014 that is, all the things that come your way that are not on the agenda,&#8221; Newsom told Politico in January. &#8220;This is not how I wanted to spend my last year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">&#8220;The good news is the overwhelming opposition to this by others,&#8221; Newsom said. &#8220;I think it will be defeated, because I think people understand what it does versus what it promotes to do.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/california-capital-flight-mirrors-new-york-hands-red-states-windfall\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CALIFORNIA\u2019S LOOMING CAPITAL FLIGHT PROBLEM COULD RESHAPE STATE IN 3 KEY AREAS<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Fox News Digital<\/a> reached out to Newsom&#8217;s office and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis&#8217; office for comment.<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\"><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">The Service Employees International Union\u2013United Healthcare Workers West has until June to gather enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. If qualified, voters would then decide whether to implement the measure.<\/p>\n<p data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\">Read more at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/proposed-california-wealth-tax-drives-billionaire-exodus-florida-real-estate-locals-confirm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">FOXNews.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Florida<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/ca\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">California<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/consumer\/real-estate\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Real Estate<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/housing\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-06e3e0fd=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Housing<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI, Fla. &#8211; Florida real estate managers and city officials are reporting an influx of California billionaires hoping&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1184,7,9,8,7948,12190,1011,100,388,1181],"class_list":["post-218193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-consumer","tag-fl","tag-housing","tag-news","tag-real-estate","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218193","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=218193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}