On Saturday, The New York Post posted an article about Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick. He has announced that he is leaving California for Texas.
Our Founding Fathers envisioned a nation where each state would be an individual laboratory to find the best ways to do things–provide services, create budgets, levy taxes, etc. The idea was that the unsuccessful states would learn from the successful states. Unfortunately, some of our less successful states seem to have a very slow learning curve and rather than learn from what is successful are doubling down on what doesn’t work. California, a beautiful state with beautiful beaches, and beautiful weather is one example of that slow learning curve. The state’s tax plans are driving successful people out of the state.
The article reports:
Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick says he has traded California for Texas, joining a growing list of billionaires abandoning the state as lefty lawmakers push for a one-off tax on their wealth.
Appearing on TPBN to discuss his robotics startup Atoms, Kalanick told hosts John Coogan and Jordi Hays he relocated to Austin at the end of 2025.
“Just to be clear, on December 18, I moved to Texas. I don’t know what’s so specific about December 18, but let’s just say it’s prior to January,” said Kalanick, pointedly.
That means the 49-year-old’s estimated $3.6 billion fortune will not be subjected to the tax should it be introduced.
Kalanick joked he felt a twinge of FOMO when he hears about other wealthy Americans relocating to Florida.
“Why so much Florida action?! Like, come on homies,” he said.
Those ”homies” would be billionaire tech figures to leave California for Florida., including Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, PayPal and Palantir investor Peter Thiel, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg.
The article notes:
While California still boasts the largest billionaire population in the United States, an increasing number have relocated to places such as Reno, Austin and Miami.
As long as people are free to move around the country, they will gravitate to the states with lower taxes and a lower cost of living. Businesses and corporations will also move to states with a better business climate. Note that Cape Cod Potato Chips are being moved out of Massachusetts.