State residents worth more than $1bn could face one-off, 5% tax to help fund education, food assistance and healthcare
A battle is brewing in California over a plan to tax billionaires – with tech titans divided over whether they should pay up, or flee the state.
Under a tax proposal that could be put to voters this November, any California resident worth more than $1bn would have to pay a one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the state.
Several Silicon Valley figures have already threatened to leave California and take their business elsewhere. But Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia whose net worth is nearly $159bn, told Bloomberg Television this week that he is “perfectly fine with it”.
“We chose to live in Silicon Valley,” Huang said. “And whatever taxes I guess they would like to apply, so be it.”
