The tax escape map: Billionaires are bolting for Florida from the West Coast and taking some $29 billion in tax revenue with them

The billionaire exodus from the West Coast to Florida is underway as the ultrawealthy seek refuge from wealth taxes in states like California and Washington.

Google cofounders Larry Page (net worth $295 billion ) and Sergey Brin (net worth $275 billion ) rushed to leave California last year before the Jan.

1 deadline for the California billionaire tax.

Both have purchased property in Florida.

Meanwhile, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz , whose net worth is $3.4 billion, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg , whose net worth is $196 billion , also both bought property in the Sunshine State earlier this year.

The tech titans and Schultz join Amazon founder Jeff Bezos , PayPal and Palantir cofounder Peter Thiel , Citadel founder Ken Griffin , and Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison , who have all bought property or moved their companies’ operations to Florida in the past several years.

The rush to buy in Florida has been fueled partly by California’s proposed Billionaire Tax Act , which, if passed, would charge billionaires who resided in California after Jan.

1, 2026, with a one-time tax on 5% of their total net worth.

The bill, which would reportedly affect about 200 people, aims to collect $100 billion in revenue that would go toward funding healthcare in the state, as well as education and food assistance, to a lesser extent.

A simple majority in the November elections would make the effort pass and amend the state’s constitution to put it into place.

According to a recent poll by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, voters are seemingly split on the proposal, with 48% of likely voters saying they would support the measure versus 41% who said they would not support it.

Among the ultra-wealthy, the proposal is almost universally unpopular.

Many wealthy individuals in California have come out against the tax, including Brin, who earlier this month donated an additional $20 million to a PAC, Building a Better California, which is promoting its own three counter measures, that, if approved by voters in November, would potentially kill the billionaire tax on arrival, even if the tax also passes.

Brin has reportedly donated $102 million total to the group since it was created in January.