California Billionaire Tax Exodus: Kalanick Bolts Before $180M Bill

This is not rocket science. When you target people for taxation, people who are able to leave will leave. >> Let’s just be clear. On December 18th, I moved to Texas. >> Sure. You know, I don’t know what’s so specific about December 18th, but Who knows? >> Let’s just say it’s prior to January. >> Former Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz announced in a LinkedIn post that he and his wife are moving from Seattle to Florida after more decades or after more than four decades in Washington. He didn’t directly cite the millionaires tax as the specific reason for leaving the state, but he did write that he hopes Washington, quote, will remain a place for business and entrepreneurs entrepreneurship to thrive, creating essential opportunity for those in Seattle and in the surrounding areas.

>> That’s what’s happening not just in Washington state, but across the West Coast. You are seeing a mass exodus of wealth to the East Coast, to states like Tennessee and Texas and Florida. I get a little bit FOMO on like these people going to Florida. I’m like, “Dude, [laughter] >> Yeah, it’s pretty nice out there. why so much Florida action? Like, come on. Yeah, I know what you mean. You’re seeing businesses pick up and move their entire infrastructure, which costs hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars for some companies, >> [music] >> because it’s worth it to escape states like Washington.

It’s worth it to escape states like California and essentially start all over somewhere else. >> [music] >> Founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, is heading to Miami, Florida, after living in Seattle for nearly 30 years. A move that will save him roughly $600 million in taxes. Wow. Shocker. Former CEO and founder of Uber, he’s he’s out of California. As you saw in that clip, he was like, “I don’t know what’s you know, what’s specific about December 18th.” Because there’s nothing specific about December 18th. All that matters is that it’s before January, which was when basically California’s new billionaire tax kicks in.

So, he’s out of there. He, along with so many other people, are leaving these big blue uh city-states just because it makes sense. It financially makes sense. You know, it it kind of confounds me that leadership in all of these states and cities they know this is going to happen. So, is this is this just a squeeze on the middle class? Is that what this is? Just a massive squeeze on the middle class, break down the middle class? Because everybody knows wealthy people can move. They can just pick up and leave and go. And not even wealthy people, people that want to make decisions, and that’s where I would put myself, I want to be in a an area with like-minded people that I don’t have to wake up to a different tax on on my lifestyle, my livelihood, my businesses every other freaking day.

And that’s what it’s felt like lately here in Washington state. You just wake up, oh yeah, millionaire tax, okay, yeah, state payroll tax. All right, you know, it just goes on and on. Oh, gas tax is going up. Just oh, gas is expensive. You know, just one thing after another. And so, these guys I I think what was interesting about um uh Travis Kalanick was he indicates FOMO. Oh, all the other bill- billionaires, they’ve already moved. All the other billionaire, I need to go play with my billionaire buddies. I want to go water skiing with them. I I want to take my kids to the beach. These guys are just absolutely loaded.

They could do whatever the F they want. What I find interesting is the number of people that haven’t yet moved. But then you’ve got some real numbnuts that sit around going, “I’m a billionaire. I encourage others to pay their fair share of taxes.” And you’re like, “What an idiot. You’re just such an idiot. Just Why don’t you just light, you know, bundles of thousands on fire and just toss them? Just bundle them up and, you know, just >> [laughter] >> So ridiculous, isn’t it? Let’s read the article. Kalanick says the separate team moved to Austin was timed prior to January. There you go.

There you go, prior to January. What time you leaving? Prior to January. Doesn’t matter when. We’re going. We’re leaving. We’re going. Billionaire and Uber co-co- Billionaire and Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick officially joined the exodus from California, revealing he moved to Austin, Texas just weeks before a proposed wealth tax could have targeted his estimated $3.6 billion fortune. He’s kind of in the same ballpark as Howard Schultz, who we saw just recently left Seattle. He indicated he left Seattle. You know, I had somebody ask me a really interesting question this morning was, is there going to be a mass fall of value in the upper end Seattle market because so many millionaires are leaving?

And the answer to that is, I don’t think so because there’s enough people that live in Seattle that want to pay their share of taxes. Like they just that they they honestly feel like this is their burden in life. We need to pay more taxes. So there’s always going to people be people, really wealthy tech people, to fill the the the homes that we’re talking about where you’ve got a handful of millionaires and billionaires living. Now, it’s not just a handful. It’s It’s a lot of people, but you know, it’s thousands and thousands of people. The population shift is literally going to have an impact on Congress after the 2030 census.

There’s There you’re going to have a you know, you’re going to have way more population having gone to Florida and Texas and having left Washington, California, Illinois, New York. Those kind of states. So, it’s common, but when you’re talking about the real estate market, um you know, is the upper end going to absolutely fall apart? There There’s so few homes that billionaires live in anyway, and it seems like, well, most of them are congregating in Florida. I thought it was interesting this dude went to Austin, Texas. But, you know, that’s Joe Rogan territory. Now, he can go to Rogan’s comedy club, right?

Just to be clear, on December 18th, not funny. December 18th. December 18th. I moved to Texas. I don’t know what’s so specific about it, but let’s just say it’s prior to January. That’s great. I mean, that’s all you need to know, right? Hey, doesn’t matter. He’s out of there. He’s out of there before state of California can take its massive whack of taxes. I get a little bit of FOMO on like, these people are going to Florida. I’m like, dude, why so much Florida action? He continued, come on, homies. Why so much Florida action? Well, low in taxes, great weather, pro-business, run by Republicans, red.

What more do you need? You know what I mean? What more do you need? It’s interesting when you talk to people here in Washington state and say, “Hey, would you ever consider moving to Florida?” They’re kind of like, nah. Like, Florida is just, you know, Satan’s lair of hell or something, right? And you’re like, “What’s wrong with Florida?” Well, you know. No, I don’t. I kind of like Florida. I I think Florida’s cool. I like Texas. They’ll do the same thing to Texas. They’ll be like, well, I mean, maybe I’d move to Austin, but you know, maybe Dallas, but but otherwise. Yeah. No, no, we’re going to we’re going to stay right here in Washington state and just get bent over and taxed like there’s no tomorrow cuz we like that.

The collective good, right? Kalanick left his San Francisco home for Texas just 14 days before the new year when the retroactive residency deadline for the proposed billionaire tax would take effect. I think this billionaire flight, I think it’s pretty entertaining. I could really give a crap less what these billionaires do, but it’s the pattern that I’m interested in, right? They’re migrating. Where where are they going? Uh, how come they’re Oh, yeah, we all know the drill. They’re moving because they’re getting taxed out and leadership in these states knows this will happen and they’re okay with it happening.

And that’s why I say, this is a greater overall move to basically Sorry, you guys can’t read that. To destroy the middle class. And I I honestly think There we go. That is the end goal cuz what else could it be? You guys know what’s going to happen when you just endlessly tax those in the upper end. It’s not going to create enough tax revenue to do what you want to do. Those people are going to leave. You know, th- those tax revenues just isn’t going to be there. So, who are you going to tax? The people that are left. It’s such basic, you know, actions have consequences kind of deal, right? While he’s not yet qualified for the November ballot, the proposal, backed by the Service Employees International Union, would impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of California residents with more than $1 billion in wealth.

It’s it’s just a whack to the wealthy. And if you want to stick around and then have a bunch of your net worth absolutely shellacked, hey, by all means, right? Some of those people are so wealthy that it really wouldn’t impact 5% isn’t going to impact them. But why stick around if you don’t need to? You want to have your money go to the government of California? Gavin Newsom? >> [laughter] >> Whatever. Do whatever you want, right? But tax would be due in 2027. I mean, you’re talking about liquidating enough to cover 5% tax on your net worth. Most of these people are fully invested, right?

They’re not going to have 5% sitting around in liquid assets. Cuz cuz why would you do that? Yeah, I’ve got it under my my bed. I’ve got it in my kids’ piggy bank. No. Taxpayers could spread payments over 5 years. Oh, that’s comforting. Hey, we’re going to do a payment plan for your own money. Your own wealth that we’re taxing. We’re going to We’re going to let you pay that over 5 years. That’s just That’s brain dead. The measure is approved by voters. Anyone who is a California resident January 1st, 2026 would owe the tax. Kalanick would owe roughly $180 million. Can you imagine right now a check for $180 million?

No. No. And he can’t either. It’s like, “F that. I worked hard for my billions of dollars, my three and 3.1 whatever billion.” Kalanick’s departure follows other long-time California billionaires who have moved. We got Tesla. Uh we got SpaceX, Elon Musk, Palantir co-founder, venture capitalist David Sacks. I mean, the list just goes on and on. Then we move into Jeff Bezos. We got Peter Thiel. We got Google co-founder Larry Page and Sergey Brin. We got Mark Zuckerberg. >> [laughter] >> The list just goes on and on. And you know, you know where we saw this kind of crank up? Was during the pandemic.

Because we really kind of saw the separation of Republican-run states, conservative states, from libtard states, Democrat-run states. Washington state was horrible during the pandemic. Horrible. Uh we were just ratcheted down like there’s no tomorrow because King Inslee, Jay Inslee, he you know, he he based everything on the data and the science, and there was none. There just wasn’t any. That was just That was the blind leading the blind. And so many people started leaving then, and there’s been this slow trickle. And now Washington state’s got a bunch of stuff going on like um California does.

That trickle has gone to a you know, gates are open type deal. I remember watching early on when I first started podcasting, and I was watching Tim Pool. And Tim Pool was in Where was he? Was he Washington, D.C.? Somewhere like that, some big urban center, right? And he was like, “You got to move out to the country.” And I remember thinking, “Ah, it’s not that bad. You’re overreacting.” And now I’m moving from Bellevue, Washington to Oklahoma City. Like, hello. What? I didn’t have that one on my bingo card, either, right? I mean, my parents live there, so it’s not that much of a stretch. But I I can move to Texas and be a few hours away.

But Oklahoma City in Oklahoma is just it’s so red. It’s the polar opposite of Washington state. Washington state is just run by a bunch of numbnuts who have terrible fiscal policy, terrible taxation, just terrible ideology. Like, “Hey, we’re going to try this, and oh, we think for the collective good of mankind that this is going to be great.” Then it just all crumbles, kind of like everything that happens in Seattle. Just falls apart. Just like that’s not going anywhere. It’s not. Kalanick is using his relocation to launch his new venture, Atoms, formerly City Storage Systems, focuses on industrial robotics and gainfully employed artificial intelligence.

It’s a pivot from the perception politics he claims pushed him out of Uber 2017. Yeah, I don’t really care about that. And I’m pretty sure you don’t, either. But what’s interesting is there’s, you know, just this mass rush of people. And every single time they leave California, they leave Washington, they leave Oregon, you know, we’re like, “There you go. Proves my point.” Cuz you don’t have billionaires moving into these states, do you? I haven’t had a single story of that. Don’t have a single story of a major company moving in to one of these blue-run big cities. Because it doesn’t happen. Because they can’t, you know, if they’re publicly traded company, they can’t go to their shareholders and say, “Well, we think this is a good idea.” In fact, it’s the opposite.

When they make announcements they’re moving out, stock price goes up. Right? As I have been torn away from an idea and movement that I had poured my life into, I had lost my bearings as I found the world increasingly operating by the rules of perception, not reality. All right. So, he moved. He just peaced out of there. When he jokingly asked if he would ever take work calls through his AirPods while water skiing, Kalanick responded that he might start doing so. Ah, it’s not a good idea. AirPods, they don’t work all that great after you’ve run them through the washing machine. “Dude, I should.

I’d love it. Don’t get me excited,” he said. And another billionaire talking bro talk, right? Dude. Dude, I should. No, you shouldn’t. Don’t don’t don’t do that with your AirPods. It’s going to ruin them. So, one more wealthy guy out of there. Not a shocker. This is just going to keep on going. This is going to keep on continuing. And then, in a couple of years, we’re going to be talking about, “Remember when we had that that mass exodus of millionaires and billionaires and then then it started to just be regular people?” People worth a couple million, people people with no net worth because they want to create some, and they want to go somewhere where they can make that happen, where they can literally leverage their lifestyle and create more net worth.

That’s That’s the next phase that I’m really excited about cuz you’re going to see You’re going to see so many people in my scenario and beyond who will recognize where I’m living right now is not sustainable long-term. Number one, I can’t really retire here or it’s stupid to. It’s You’re just a mental to retire in one of these big libtard states because from a taxation standpoint, why would you do that? Why would you pay gasoline that’s XYZ versus Oklahoma City at little over three bucks a gallon, right? My son, Kiernan, this morning sent me a photo of our favorite gas station on Capitol Hill, Chop Jax.

It’s just a crap hole of a gas station. It’s just It’s the worst gas station in Seattle, which isn’t saying a lot cuz there’s hardly any. You know, it just Seattle. I’m going to snowshoe to work. But, gas price at this gas station on Madison Street in God, is it like maybe the 14th or 15th Avenue block, something like that. Gas was $5.99 this morning. $5.99. Six bucks a gallon. They’ve already got eight bucks a gallon in California, and these are based on policies. So, people are moving because of policies, and you’re going to see more and more normal people get up and go. I can’t take it anymore.

I got to go. I got to go somewhere. And it doesn’t it doesn’t have to be fancy. It just has to make sense. Cuz where I’m going, it ain’t fancy. It’s not fancy. There’s there’s no fancy about Oklahoma. What is fancy is you’ve got a bunch of like-minded people who are conservative. And everything is structured that way. The schools, the government, the roads, the housing, the economy, the businesses. It all kind of makes sense. Is it Is it gloriously pretty like the Pacific Northwest? Hell to the no. But it’s got its own allure. It’s got its own appeal. You don’t have a bunch of nut jobs running around like you do here in Washington state.

And that that is priceless. That’s it for me on this one. Thanks so much for being here. Love to have you subscribe. Hit that notification bell. I’ll see you in the next episode. Bye for now. >> [music]