Larry and Sergey can’t stay in California since the wealth tax as written would confiscate 50% of their Alphabet shares.
Each own ~3% of Alphabet's stock, worth about $120 billion each at today's ~$4 trillion market cap.
But because their shares have 10x voting power, the SEIU-UHW California billionaire tax would treat them as owning 30% of Alphabet (3% × 10 = 30%). That means each founder's taxable wealth would be $1.2 trillion.
A 5% wealth tax on $1.2 trillion = $60 billion tax bill, each.
That's 50% of their actual Alphabet holdings—wiped out by a "5%" tax.
Section 50303(c)(3)(C) of the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act states: "For any interests that confer voting or other direct control rights, the percentage of the business entity owned by the taxpayer shall be presumed to be not less than the taxpayer's percentage of the overall voting or other direct control rights."
This means if a founder holds shares representing only 3% of economic interest but 30% of voting control (through Class B supervoting shares), the tax would presume their ownership stake is at least 30% for valuation purposes, not 3%.
The wealth tax is poorly defined and designed to drive tech innovation out of California.
@elonmusk FSD is so good. @Tesla should consider sharing FSD driving-behavior data with insurance companies (opt-in) so owners get lower premiums. The savings alone could help pay for FSD itself.
Ernie Clement:
“I’ve been crying, probably for an hour. I thought I was done with the tears. I just love these guys so much. I was having so much fun coming to work every day.”
💔💔💔💔😢😢😢😢
John Schneider on the #BlueJays and Dodgers:
“The one thing we cannot do is look over there and say ‘That is Goliath’. That is a beatable baseball team that has its flaws and also its really, really good strengths.”