Bernie Sanders

Senator Bernie Sanders recently took aim at Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg by sharing a post on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), joking about how the billionaire would “feed his family” if California’s proposed billionaire tax goes through. “If voters in California approve the 5% billionaire wealth tax in November, Mark Zuckerberg would owe $10.5 billion in taxes & healthcare would be saved for 3 million low-income people. Poor Mr. Zuckerberg would only have $200 billion left to feed his family. How will he survive?” Sanders wrote. The remark was part of Sanders’ broader push to highlight inequality and mock the resistance of tech elites to the one-time 5% wealth tax targeting residents with assets over $1 billion. Sanders’ jab quickly drew responses pointing out Zuckerberg’s immense fortune, estimated at more than $200 billion. Critics noted that the senator’s satirical concern was misplaced, as Zuckerberg’s wealth places him among the richest people in the world. The “correction” underscored Sanders’ rhetorical style of exaggerating billionaire struggles to emphasize the gap between ordinary families and tech moguls.

What is California's 5 percent wealth tax driving billionaires out

The trigger linking Thiel to Google's founders is a November ballot initiative in California. Proposed by a healthcare union, it would apply a one-time 5 percent tax on the assets of anyone in the state worth more than a billion dollars. If passed, it would retroactively cover anyone who lived in California as of January 1, with five years to pay. That prospect has already reshaped where some of America's richest people park their money. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who founded Google in 1998 and turned it into a nearly $4 trillion company, have both been cutting ties with the state that made them. More than 45 California LLCs tied to Page filed last month to go inactive or move out, while an entity connected to Brin terminated or relocated 15 companies in the 10 days before Christmas, the NYT found. A trust linked to Page also picked up a $71.9 million mansion in Miami. Thiel started seriously eyeing Buenos Aires real estate about a year ago, around the time the California measure began gaining attention. He's a veteran at collecting fallback options. Born in Germany and raised in the US, he took New Zealand citizenship in 2011 and applied for a Maltese passport in 2022.

Mark Zuckerberg to relocate to Florida

Earlier this year, it was reported by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is planning to relocate to Florida. A WSJ report revealed that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are the latest California billionaires to buy a home in South Florida. The couple reportedly purchased a completed waterfront mansion on Miami’s Indian Creek, as per sources with knowledge of the transaction. As to those wondering what gives Florida's Indian Creek 'Billionaire Bunkers' title: It is the residents. The gated man-made barrier island Indian Creek boasts of several billionaires as its residents. Indian Creek Island operates as an independent municipality with its own government and private police who patrol by air, water, and sky. It reportedly has 41 lots and 84 residents. The names include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, popular investor Carl Icahn and billionaire auto dealer Norman Braman. Google founders Lary Page and Sergey Brin too are said to have bought properties in Florida. As to those wondering what gives Florida's Indian Creek 'Billionaire Bunkers' title: It is the residents. The gated man-made barrier island Indian Creek boasts of several billionaires as its residents. Indian Creek Island operates as an independent municipality with its own government and private police who patrol by air, water, and sky. It reportedly has 41 lots and 84 residents. The names include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, popular investor Carl Icahn and billionaire auto dealer Norman Braman. Google founders Lary Page and Sergey Brin too are said to have bought properties in Florida.

Billionaires exodus from California

Facebook founder Zuckerberg is not the only billionaire to descend on Miami as California proposes a 5% billionaire tax. While some billionaires including Donald Trump's AI Czar have been open about leaving California, others have been largely discreet. Other than Google founder Larry Page and Sergey Brin, billionaires who have shifted base from California include Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and PayPal/Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel. What makes Florida attractive for billionaires is that it offers no state income tax. Danny Hertzberg, a Miami real-estate agent at Coldwell Banker Realty, told WSJ that the 5% tax in California is really driving out people in a major way. The 5% tax in California has been proposed by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West. The workers body is said to be circulating petitions to put the tax on the November ballot. The estimated $100 billion produced by the tax would replace funds hospitals were getting before the federal government tightened enforcement of eligibility requirements for subsidized health insurance.

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