Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has become the latest California billionaire to add Florida property to their Monopoly board. The move comes amid the ongoing debate over the potential billionaire tax, which could appear on the ballot for Californians this November.
Zuckerberg to Florida
The Facebook founder has reportedly purchased a waterfront mansion on Indian Creek Island in Miami, also known as Billionaire Bunker. It’s unclear exactly what Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are paying for the 1.84-acre property, but estimates put it between $150-$200 million.
The land was previously sold for $37 million in 2021 to an LLC linked to Jersey Mike’s founder Peter Cancro.
Satellite images of the property show a large plot with a large boat dock and a pool overlooking popular Biscayne Bay. The Zuckerbergs now own several properties outside the Golden State, including Washington, D.C., and Hawaii.
Their new Florida property is just a few doors down from fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos, who says he left Washington state to be closer to his family and space operation, but only changed residency after his home state enacted a capital gains tax.
What’s unclear is exactly when, or if, Zuckerberg closed on the property and if he actually plans to change his residency. The proposed tax would apply to any billionaire who still lived in California as of Jan. 1 this year.
Billionaire exodus
Zuckerberg is the latest billionaire to buy up property outside of California as concerns ramp up over the so-called billionaire tax.
The proposal puts a one-time 5% tax on people with a net worth over $1 billion. The measure isn’t a tax on income, rather on the entirety of a billionaire’s assets. Those behind the tax proposal have said it will help fund the impending collapse of the California health care system.
But some of the biggest-name billionaires aren’t willing to pay. Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have moved several LLCs out of the state, and, like Zuckerberg, Page bought a massive compound in Florida.
Fellow billionaire Peter Thiel now also calls Florida home. He opened a Miami office following the tax proposal and has donated $3 million to a group lobbying against it.
Impact on California
If the billionaire tax does go into effect and Zuckerberg is forced to pay, it would likely cost him around $12 billion, given his net worth of close to $240 million.
While it’s unclear whether he will be forced to pay that tax if it goes into effect, his move to Florida now will certainly affect California’s state tax revenue.
Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist who leads Social Capital, said California’s taxable wealth from billionaires has plummeted from over $2 trillion to now under $1 trillion.
“These were all people that were paying 13%+ in state income tax every year WITH NO COMPLAINTS UNTIL A FEW WEEKS AGO,” he wrote on X. “And now, for the rest of time, the lost tax revenues from these folks will have to be paid for by the middle class because they are the only group left in California large enough that you can tax to fill the hole.”
While those exiting billionaires are taking accounts with dozens of zeroes in them, it’s important to remember that California does have a gross domestic product comparable to that of the United Kingdom. Gov. Gavin Newsom has voiced his opposition to the tax over those kinds of concerns. He’s also reportedly met with the leader of the union behind the proposal and been pushing behind the scenes to get it killed.
