Billionaires Spielberg, Zuckerberg look outside of California amid wealth-tax proposal

California may be losing two of the state’s most famous residents and generous political donors.

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg recently moved to New York and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg are planning to buy a new property in Florida, stirring speculation about whether their decision is tied to a proposed new tax on California billionaires to fund health care for the state’s most vulnerable residents.

Although a handful of prominent conservatives who fled California vociferously attributed their departure to the controversial wealth tax measure, the state’s liberal methods and what they described as cumbersome business regulations, neither Zuckerberg nor Spielberg gave any indication that the tax proposal was the reason for their move.

A spokesman for Spielberg, who has owned homes on both the East and West coasts since at least the mid-1990s, said the sole motivation for Spielberg and his wife, actor Kate Capshaw, to escape to Manhattan was to be closer to family.

“Steven’s move to the East Coast has been both long planned and driven entirely by his and Kate Capshaw’s desire to be closer to their children and grandchildren who live in New York,” said Terry Press, a spokesman for the extraordinary filmmaker. He declined to answer questions about his stance on the proposed ballot measure.

On January 1, Spielberg and Capshaw officially became residents of New York City, settling into the historic San Remo co-op on Central Park West. This multi-storey building, which has hosted Bono, Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty, Tiger Woods and many other celebrities, is among the most exclusive buildings in Manhattan. That same day, Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment opened an office in New York.

According to the Wall Street Journal’s first report this month, Zuckerberg and his wife, pediatrician Priscilla Chan, are considering buying a $200 million beach mansion in South Florida. The resort is located on Miami’s Indian Creek, a closed barrier island that has been a haven for the wealthy and influential, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner.

Zuckerberg’s representatives declined to comment.

The billionaires’ moves have attracted attention as California billionaires have emerged as supporters of a proposed one-time 5% tax on their assets and are collecting signatures to put the initiative on the November ballot. The group, led by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, must collect the signatures of about 875,000 registered voters and submit them to county election officials by June 24.

If approved, the tax would raise about $100 billion, largely for health care as well as some education programs. Critics say it will drive the wealthy and their corporations out of the state. Venture capitalist David Sacks announced on December 31 that he will open an office in Austin, Texas; On the same day, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel announced that his company had opened a new office in Miami.

The proposed ballot measure, if eligible for the ballot and approved by voters, would apply to Californians residing in the state by 2026.Residence conditions are unclear. Factors considered by the state’s Franchise Tax Board include where a person is registered to vote, their primary residence, how much time they spend in California, where their driver’s license is issued and their cars are registered, where their spouses and children live, the location of their doctors, dentists, accountants and lawyers, and their “social ties,” such as the location of their house of worship or county club.

It’s unclear whether the proposal will qualify for the November ballot and, if so, whether voters will approve it. However, the mass exodus of some of the state’s billionaires (more than 200 people) will have a significant impact on state revenues regardless. Volatility in the state’s budget stems from its over-reliance on taxes paid by the state’s wealthiest residents, including capital gains and stock-based compensation.

“Highest-income Californians pay the largest share of the state’s personal income tax,” according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2026-27 budget summary released in January. “The significant share of personal income taxes paid by a small percentage of taxpayers, by far the state’s largest source of General Fund revenue, increases the difficulty of estimating personal income tax revenue.”

This dependence on wealthy Californians is among the reasons why the proposed billionaires tax has created a divide among Democrats and is a source of disagreement in the race for governor to replace Newsom, who has failed to run for another term in 2026 and is considering a presidential bid. He opposes the proposal; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT.) campaigned for it Wednesday evening at the Wiltern in Los Angeles.

“Not only do I support what they’re trying to do in California, but we’re going to implement a wealth tax for the entire country. We have to deal with the greed, the extraordinary greed, of the billionaire class,” Sanders told reporters on Feb. 11.

Zuckerberg and Spielberg are both prolific political donors; but fully disclosing their contributions to candidates, campaigns, and other organizations is difficult due to how they or their affiliates donate to them and the complexities of campaign finance reporting.

According to Forbes, Hollywood legend Spielberg, 79, has a fortune of more than $7 billion. He and his wife have almost universally donated to Democratic candidates and causes, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit, nonpartisan tracker of federal campaign contributions, and the California secretary of state.

The prolific filmmaker, acclaimed for films such as “Schindler’s List,” “Jaws,” “Jurassic Park” and the “Indiana Jones” trilogy, was born in Ohio and lived in several states with his family before moving to California. He attended Cal State Long Beach but dropped out after Universal Studios gave him a contract to direct television shows.

The fortune of 41-year-old Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook while he was at university, is more than $219 billion and he is among the richest people in the world. Forbes.

His largest personal federal political donation appears to be $1 million to FWD.us, a nationwide group focused on criminal justice and immigration reform, according to Open Secrets.

Zuckerberg, now a registered Democrat in Santa Clara County, has donated to politicians across the partisan spectrum, including Democrats like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and current Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as Republicans like Secretary of State Marco Rubio when President Trump was running for the White House and Chris Christie during his New Jersey gubernatorial campaign.

Both men’s personal donations do not include other influences on campaign finances — Spielberg has helped countless Democratic politicians raise money in Hollywood; Zuckerberg’s company has made other contributions, too. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee in December 2024. Zuckerberg later attended the president’s swearing-in ceremony in the US Capitol Rotunda.

Born in White Plains, New York, Zuckerberg created the first prototype of Facebook while at Harvard University and dropped out to move to Silicon Valley to complete the social media platform, as depicted in the award-winning movie “The Social Network.”

He currently owns numerous properties in California and elsewhere; these include two mansions on Kauai, a controversial, massive compound containing dozens of bedrooms, numerous other buildings and recreation areas, and an underground bunker with a metal door filled with concrete, according to a 2023 report. Investigation by Wired. The cost of land acquisition and construction reportedly exceeded $300 million.

Meta is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, but has been based in Delaware since Facebook’s founding in 2004.

Times writer Queenie Wong contributed to this report.