Monica Showalter - American Thinker
And the fact that this is happening tells a lot about just how bad California's governance is, which, augmented by election fraud, is probably impossible to change for the foreseeable future.
"California is well known for driving its productive citizens to other states.
"A proposed new 'billionaire tax,' that's coming up on the November ballot has already driven many of its most successful citizens -- Peter Thiel, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, Stephen Spielberg -- to other states like Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Nevada, any place where the greedy hand of the state is not fixing to take another dip into their pockets.
"The Wall Street Journal last week noticed something weird: A lot of them are moving to nearby Nevada ... and they're seemingly losing money by buying up properties around Lake Tahoe at inflated prices.
"According to the Journal:
As wealthy Californians flee the state, deep-pocketed buyers are taking refuge in Nevada, which is starting to rival Florida as a tax haven for the elite. Amid surging demand for prime Tahoe property in Nevada, a recent string of megadeals reflects the premium buyers are willing to pay for a lower tax bill—and the widening price gap between the two sides of the lake.California’s proposed wealth tax effectively “sprinkled rocket fuel” on the ultraluxury market on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, said Bill Dietz of Tahoe Luxury Properties.
The proposal would levy a one-time, 5% tax on the net worth of residents with net assets of $1 billion or more, and would apply to anyone who resided in California as of Jan. 1, 2026.
In December 2025, just after the tax was proposed, Google co-founder Sergey Brin paid $42 million for a lakefront home in Crystal Bay, Nev., property records show. The same month, a 210-acre estate in Zephyr Cove, Nev., sold for $80 million to an undisclosed buyer. Then in March, an entity tied to venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson shattered the Nevada and Tahoe records with the $125 million purchase of an estate in Incline Village, Nev. Jurvetson also picked up an adjacent $7 million property, and paid $46 million for a separate Incline Village home, for a total spend of $178 million. Brin didn’t respond to requests for comment. Jurveston declined to comment.
"Then came the kicker from the Journal: . . ." More...
