“Only Idiot Startup Founders Will Stay In California.” - Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban just said this. He’s 100% right.

And, if you have stock/stock options and live in California you’ll be forced to leave too.

Sounds extreme. Keep reading.

👇🏻

The proposed “one-time billionaire tax” is not one time.

And not limited to 200 billionaires.

With prop 40 on the ballot in November, California wants to change the state constitution opening the door to taxing all assets.

Imagine you join a startup. You take less cash for stock options. The company takes off. Suddenly your equity is worth something.

Except…

You haven’t sold anything.

You haven’t made millions.

You may not even be able to sell your shares.

You’re paper rich.

Cash normal.

California wants to change the state constitution to:

Tax “All forms of personal property and wealth, whether tangible or intangible”

Including stock.

And stock options.

Not just what you earn.

What you own.

Today, the proposed tax is 5%. Today, it targets wealth above $1 billion. Today, it’s “one-time.”

But once California changes the constitution.

What do you think will happen next?

(America’s first federal income tax was temporary too.)

In papers published by scholars at the Hoover Institution, they concluded that California's proposed 2026 Billionaire Tax Act would backfire.

And leave the state worse off by an estimated $25 billion.

“Nothing is more permanent than a temporary government program. The California Billionaire Tax would amend the California Constitution, making it unlikely to be a one-time tax and doing nothing to solve California’s spending problem.”

— Joshua D. Rauh, Hoover Institution

Silicon Valley runs on equity.

Mess with that and California risks destroying the engine that made it the startup capital of the world.

That’s why the entire startup ecosystem should be paying attention.

Vote NO.

On prop 40.

🏴‍☠️