CEO says doing business in state ‘sucks’ as company heads to Texas amid California exodus

DALLAS – "Doing business in the state of California sucks," Hil Davis, a California businessman, bluntly told Fox News Digital.

That frustration ultimately drove Davis, CEO of Digital Brands Group, more than 1,300 miles to Texas.

The apparel and e-commerce company relocated its headquarters to Round Rock, just north of Austin , leasing roughly 70,000 square feet of warehouse and office space as it expands its collegiate sports apparel business.

Davis said the sprawling Texas facility costs roughly the same as the company’s former space in Vernon, California, about five miles south of Los Angeles.

And rent was only part of the equation.

BILLIONS IN TAXPAYER INCOME ARE LEAVING TWO ICONIC STATES — AS A NEW ECONOMIC MAP EMERGES Davis pointed to California’s high cost of living, long employee commutes and the rising cost of doing business, including defending against lawsuits.

"You start to add all those things up," he said.

"It doesn’t work.

It doesn’t make sense.

It’s too hard." The relocation comes as California wrestles with a much bigger question about whether the state’s costs, taxes and regulations are driving away the businesses and wealthy residents it relies on.

That debate has intensified around a proposed one-time tax of up to 5% on Californians worth more than $1 billion.

Supporters say the billionaire tax could raise billions for health care and other public programs by asking the state’s wealthiest residents to pay more.

Opponents warn it could instead send major taxpayers packing — and take future tax revenue with them.

California is already seeing taxpayers and their income move elsewhere.