California could also be shedding two of the state’s most famed residents and beneficiant political donors.
Filmmaker Steven Spielberg lately moved to New York and Fb co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is eyeing buying a brand new property in Florida, stirring hypothesis about whether or not their selections are tied to a proposed new tax on California billionaires to fund healthcare for the state’s most weak residents.
Though a handful of outstanding conservatives who bolted out of California noisily blamed their departure on the controversial wealth tax measure, in addition to the state’s liberal methods and what they describe as cumbersome enterprise laws, neither Zuckerberg nor Spielberg has given any indication that the tax proposal is the rationale for his or her strikes.
A spokesperson for Spielberg, who has owned properties on each the East and West coasts since at the very least the mid-Nineties, stated the only real motivation for Spielberg and his spouse, actor Kate Capshaw, decamping to Manhattan was to be close to household.
“Steven’s transfer to the East Coast is each long-planned and pushed purely by his and Kate Capshaw’s need to be nearer to their New York primarily based youngsters and grandchildren,” stated Terry Press, a spokesperson for the prodigious filmmaker. She declined to reply questions about his place on the proposed poll measure.
Director Steven Spielberg presents president Invoice Clinton with the Ambassadors Humanity award on the fifth Annual Ambassadors for Humanity Dinner Honoring former President Invoice Clinton to assist the Survivors of the Shoah Visible Historical past Basis held on the Amblin theatre Common Studios on February 17, 2005 in Los Angeles, California.
(Frazer Harrison / Getty Photos)
On Jan. 1, Spielberg and Capshaw formally turned residents of New York Metropolis, settling within the historic San Remo co-op in Central Park West. The storied constructing is among the many most unique in Manhattan, having been house to Bono, Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty, Tiger Woods and lots of different celebrities. On the identical day, Spielberg’s Amblin Leisure opened an workplace in New York Metropolis.
Zuckerberg and his spouse, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, are contemplating shopping for a $200-million waterfront mansion in South Florida, the Wall Road Journal first reported this month. The property is positioned in Miami’s Indian Creek, a gated barrier island that’s an alcove of the rich and the influential, together with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner.
Representatives for Zuckerberg declined to remark.
The billionaires’ strikes raised eyebrows as a result of they happen as supporters of the proposed 5% one-time tax on the property of California billionaires and trusts are gathering signatures to qualify the initiative for the November poll. Led by the Service Workers Worldwide Union-United Healthcare Employees West, they have to collect the signatures of practically 875,000 registered voters and submit them to county elections officers by June 24.
If authorised, the tax would increase roughly $100 billion that will largely pay for healthcare companies, in addition to some education schemes. Critics say it might drive the rich and their corporations out of the state. On Dec. 31, enterprise capitalist David Sacks introduced that he was opening an workplace in Austin, Texas, the identical day PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel publicized that his agency had opened a brand new workplace in Miami.
The proposed poll measure, if it qualifies for the poll and is authorised by voters, would apply to Californians who’re residents of the state as of 2026. However residency necessities are murky. Among the many elements thought of by the state’s Franchise Tax Board are the place somebody is registered to vote, the situation of their principal residence, how a lot time they spend in California, the place their driver’s license was issued and their vehicles registered, the place their partner and youngsters dwell, the situation of their medical doctors, dentists, accountants and attorneys, and their “social ties,” resembling the location of their home of worship or nation membership.
It’s unclear whether or not the proposal will qualify for the November poll, and if it does, whether or not voters will approve it. Nevertheless, a mass exodus of a lot of the state’s billionaires — greater than 200 individuals — would have a notable impact on state income, regardless. The state’s price range volatility is attributable to its heavy reliance on taxes paid by the state’s wealthiest residents, together with from levies on capital features and stock-based compensation.
“The best-income Californians pay the most important share of the state’s private revenue tax,” in accordance with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2026-27 price range abstract that was revealed in January. “The numerous share of non-public revenue taxes — by far the state’s largest Basic Fund income supply — paid by a small share of taxpayers will increase the problem of forecasting private revenue tax income.”
This reliance on rich Californians is among the many causes the proposed billionaires tax has created a schism amongst Democrats and is a supply of discord within the 2026 governor’s race to interchange Newsom, who can’t search one other time period and is weighing a presidential bid. He opposes the proposal; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT.) campaigned for it Wednesday night on the Wiltern in Los Angeles.
“I’m not solely supportive of what they’re making an attempt to do in California, however we’re going to introduce a wealth tax for the entire nation. We now have bought to cope with the greed, the extraordinary greed, of the billionaire class,” Sanders instructed reporters Feb. 11.
Zuckerberg and Spielberg are each prolific political donors, although it’s tough to totally account for his or her contributions to candidates, campaigns and different entities due to how they or their associates donate to them in addition to the intricacies of marketing campaign finance reporting.
Spielberg, 79, a Hollywood legend, is value greater than $7 billion, in accordance with Forbes. He and his spouse have donated virtually universally to Democratic candidates and causes, in accordance with Open Secrets and techniques, a nonprofit, nonpartisan tracker of federal marketing campaign contributions, and the California secretary of state’s workplace.
The prolific filmmaker, who received approval for films resembling “Schindler’s Record,” “Jaws,” “Jurassic Park” and the “Indiana Jones” trilogy, was born in Ohio and lived together with his household in a number of states earlier than transferring to California. He attended Cal State Lengthy Seaside however dropped out after Common Studios gave him a contract to direct tv exhibits.
Zuckerberg, 41, launched Fb whereas in school and is value greater than $219 billion, making him among the many world’s richest individuals, in accordance with Forbes.
His largest private federal political donation seems to be $1 million to FWD.us, a bunch centered on felony justice and immigration reform nationwide, in accordance with Open Secrets and techniques.
Zuckerberg, who’s at present a registered Democrat in Santa Clara County, has donated to politicians throughout the partisan spectrum, together with Democrats resembling former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi and present Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer to Republicans resembling President Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he ran for the White Home and Chris Christie throughout his New Jersey gubernatorial marketing campaign.
Each males’s private donations don’t embody their different results on marketing campaign funds — Spielberg has helped numerous Democratic politicians increase cash in Hollywood; Zuckerberg’s firm has made different contributions. Meta — the guardian firm of Fb, Instagram and WhatsApp — donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee in December 2024. Zuckerberg later attended the president’s swearing in on the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
Zuckerberg, born in White Plains, N.Y., created an early prototype of Fb whereas at Harvard College and dropped out to maneuver to Silicon Valley to finish the social media platform, as depicted within the award-winning movie “The Social Community.”
He nonetheless owns a number of properties in California and elsewhere, together with a controversial, huge compound on Kauai that features two mansions, dozens of bedrooms, a number of different buildings and leisure areas — and an underground bunker that includes a steel door full of concrete, in accordance with a 2023 investigation by Wired. The price of land acquisition and building reportedly has topped $300 million.
Meta relies in Menlo Park, Calif., although it has been integrated in Delaware since Fb’s founding in 2004.
Instances workers author Queenie Wong contributed to this report.
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