Mark Cuban said 'only idiot' founders would stay in California under a wealth tax. We asked 3 founders if they'd leave.

Mark Cuban told Business Insider there were "a lot of incentives" to leave California.

We asked some founders if they'd stay under a wealth tax.

Nicola Gell/Getty Images Mark Cuban said that "only idiot startup founders" will stay in California if the wealth tax passes.

Business Insider put Cuban's theory to the test by asking founders whether they'd leave.

One said he would.

Another said he'd consider it.

A third said founders want to be close to the epicenter of AI.

Mark Cuban said startup founders would leave under a proposed wealth tax .

The founders themselves are split.

California will vote on its statewide "billionaire tax" in November.

In an X response to Rep.

Ro Khanna , Cuban said the tax would adversely affect founders, who may be billionaires in stock but lack the cash to pay it.

"If this passes, only idiot startup founders stay," he wrote.

In an email to Business Insider, Cuban clarified that "not every founder will face the tax." There are "a lot of incentives to go elsewhere," he wrote.