You need to understand something right now.

California just lost a trillion dollars in 21 days.

This isn’t a drill.

This is real money vanishing from the state treasury while you’re sitting here trying to figure out what happened.

You’ve seen the clips.

Larry Paige, the guy who built Google in a Menllo Park garage, just moved 45 business entities out of California in 10 days, the final week of December.

Sergey Brin followed him out the door with 15 more.

Peter Teal opened an office in Miami.

David Saxs is now in Austin.

These aren’t vacations.

These are exits.

This hits your wallet tonight.

When billionaires leave, they take their tax dollars with them.

The top 1% of California earners paid 38% of the state’s personal income tax in 2023.

That’s the data from California’s own franchise tax board.

If that revenue stream starts to dry up, guess who makes up the difference? Not them.

They’re already gone.

It’s you.

the person who can’t just restructure 45 LLC’s before breakfast.

Show me the paperwork.

Prove this is just noise.

In 90 seconds, I’ll give you the single document that would exist if this were overblown, and I’ll tell you exactly what’s missing from the official record.

I’m Luna Hopper.

This is Luna Hopper News.

And tonight, we’re tracking the biggest wealth migration story in California history.

Because somebody needs to follow the money trail while everyone else is still arguing about whether this is even happening.

Let’s start with what actually triggered this.

On October 22nd, 2025, a ballot initiative landed with the California Attorney General.

It’s called the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act.

The proposal, a one-time 5% tax on anyone worth more than a billion dollars who lived in California as of January 1st, 2026.

That retroactive date is the nuclear detail everyone missed until December.

The Service Employees International Union Healthcare Workers Division is behind this.

They need 875,000 signatures by June 24th to get it on the November ballot.

Their pitch, use the money for healthcare and education.

The legislative analyst’s office says it could raise tens of billions of dollars from roughly 200 to 250 billionaires.

But here’s where the math starts to unravel.

Tax attorney David Lepins went on record saying four of his clients, collectively worth $600 billion, started relocation plans in December.

Three went to Florida, one went to Texas.

Venture capitalist Chimath Palihapatia posted on X that California has lost a trillion dollars in wealth in the past month alone, claiming the state’s expected $2 trillion tax base is now down to $1.3 trillion and falling.

That’s the official story versus the paperwork.

Let’s break down what we actually know from state filings versus what we’re hearing in the noise.

Here’s what we know.

Larry Pageige filed documents in late December to terminate or relocate more than 45 California limited liability companies out of state.

Verified through California Secretary of State records reported by the New York Times and other outlets.

Sergey Brin filed to move or terminate 15 entities tied to his business interests, including companies managing one of his super yachts and his stake in a private air terminal at San Jose’s airport.

Peter Theal’s family office, Theel Capital, issued a press release in late December announcing a Miami office.

David Saxs opened a Craft Ventures office in Austin.

These aren’t rumors.

These are documented business moves.

Here’s what we don’t know.

We don’t know how many billionaires have fully changed their tax residency versus just moving business entities.

There’s a legal difference.

California uses something called the closest connection test, which looks at where you spend your time, where your family is, where your dog lives, where your trophy case sits.

Moving an LLC to Nevada doesn’t automatically mean you’re no longer a California resident for tax purposes.

That takes months of proving you intended to leave permanently.

Here’s what would confirm it.

If this were a full-scale billionaire exodus affecting the state treasury immediately, we’d see official statements from the California Franchise Tax Board projecting revenue shortfalls tied specifically to changed residencies.

We’d see updated guidance from the Department of Finance revising budget projections for fiscal year 2026 and 2027.

We’d see county assessor reports showing property sales or title transfers for primary residences of known billionaires.

Those documents aren’t public yet or they don’t exist yet because proving residency change takes time and audits.

So, what’s the real risk here? Let me walk you through the escalation ladder.

Not what’s happening today, but what could happen if this trend accelerates.

Stage one is what we’re seeing now.

Business restructuring and asset relocation.

LLC’s move, family offices open branches in other states.

This doesn’t immediately cost California tax revenue because personal residency hasn’t changed yet, but it’s the setup.

Stage two would be if a significant number of these individuals actually establish new primary residences and pass California’s residency tests over the next 12 months.

If that happens, the state loses not just the onetime 5% wealth tax revenue it was hoping to collect, but also the ongoing income tax, capital gains tax, and property tax those individuals pay every year.

Stage three is the multiplier effect.

If wealthy founders leave, their companies might follow.

Employees get relocated.

Office leases don’t get renewed.

Venture capital dries up for California startups because the money is now being deployed in Florida and Texas.

That hits the middle class, the people who work at those companies, the landlords who rent to those employees, the restaurants and dry cleaners and gyms that depend on that economic activity.

Stage four is the budget spiral.

California already faces an $18 billion deficit for fiscal year 2026 to 2027 according to the legislative analyst’s office.

If even a fraction of the top 1% of earners who contribute 38% of personal income tax reduce their California tax burden, the deficit grows.

The state has to cut services or raise taxes on everyone else to close the gap.

That’s when working families feel it directly.

None of those later stages are happening yet, but the foundation is being poured right now in December and January, and the state government hasn’t published a single official response document outlining how they plan to prevent or mitigate this.

Let me give you the paper trail test.

If the state were taking this seriously, you’d see three things.

First, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration would issue guidance clarifying residency rules and announcing audits for high- netw worth individuals claiming to have left the state.

Second, the Franchise Tax Board would publish a report estimating the revenue impact of documented business entity relocations.

Third, Governor Nuome’s office would release a formal policy response, not just interviews with Politico and the New York Times, but an actual policy document with data and projections.

As of today, we have the interviews.

Nuome told Politico this week, “This is my fear.

It’s just what I warned against.

It’s happening.

” He told the New York Times he would do what I have to do to protect the state.

But a direct to voter ballot initiative can’t be vetoed by the governor if it passes.

His office has been coordinating what he called an all hands effort to kill the proposal, including meeting personally with the SEIU union president.

But there’s no published strategy document.

There’s no official revenue impact analysis from his administration.

That’s the gap.

Let’s talk about who gets hurt first if this keeps accelerating.

It’s not the billionaires.

They have lawyers and accountants and logistics teams who can mobilize in days.

It’s not even the millionaires who can afford to restructure and relocate if they need to.

It’s the family making $80,000 a year in San Jose who depends on a tech job that might move to Austin.

It’s the senior on a fixed income who sees property taxes go up because the state needs to make up lost revenue somewhere.

It’s the small business owner in PaloAlto whose customer base just shrunk because half the venture capital firms relocated their partners.

It’s the healthcare worker, ironically the very union pushing this tax who might see state budget cuts to Medicaid if the revenue projections fall apart.

You want a human angle? Here’s one based on published reporting.

A venture capitalist told the Washington Post in January that his clients ran the numbers after Thanksgiving and immediately said, “Get me the hell out of here.

” That’s a quote.

Tax attorney David Lesprint said it became a no-brainer for his ultra-wealthy clients.

These are people who pay millions in California taxes every year, and they made the decision to leave in a matter of weeks.

Now, flip that.

If you’re a California resident without the resources to relocate, you’re stuck.

You don’t get to call a tax attorney and restructure your life in 10 days.

You ride out whatever budget decisions the state makes when the revenue doesn’t come in as expected.

That’s the asymmetry.

So, let’s recap where we actually stand.

Here’s what we know.

Multiple billionaires, including Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Peter Theal, and David Saxs have taken documented steps to reduce their California business footprint in late December and early January.

State filings confirm business entity relocations.

The 2026 Billionaire Tax Act is a real proposal that needs 875,000 signatures to reach the November ballot.

The retroactive date of January 1st, 2026 gave wealthy residents very little time to change residency status if they wanted to avoid the tax.

Here’s what we don’t know.

We don’t know how many of these individuals have successfully changed their legal tax residency versus just moving business entities.

We don’t know if the signature drive will succeed or if the ballot measure will pass.

We don’t know the exact revenue impact because the state hasn’t published updated budget projections accounting for these moves.

We don’t know if more billionaires are planning to leave or if this wave is mostly complete.

Here’s what would confirm it.

Official residency audits and tax filings in 2026 and 2027 would show who actually left.

Updated revenue projections from the California Department of Finance would quantify the budget impact.

Property sale records for known billionaires would show primary residence changes.

Legal challenges to the retroactive tax provision would clarify whether the January 1st date holds up in court.

And voting results in November would tell us if Californians actually want this tax.

Until those things happen, we’re in the fog of war.

We have signals, business filings, press releases, interviews with tax attorneys, but we don’t have the full picture yet.

Now, here’s where the anger should be directed.

Not at the billionaires for making rational economic decisions, not at the union for trying to fund healthare.

The anger belongs with the lack of transparency and planning from state leadership.

If you’re going to propose a tax that affects 200 people but ripples out to millions, you better have a plan for what happens if those 200 people leave.

You better have run the scenarios.

You better have budget models that account for different outcomes.

and you better publish those models so voters can make an informed decision in November.

We don’t have that.

What we have is a governor giving interviews saying he’s scared this will happen while it’s already happening, but no formal policy response.

What we have is a union saying the exodus is wildly overstated, while tax attorneys say their clients are fleeing on mass.

What we have is venture capitalists posting trillion dollar wealth loss estimates on social media while the state government hasn’t released a single official revenue impact analysis.

That’s the crisis, not the tax itself.

You can argue the merits either way.

The crisis is that California is potentially restructuring its entire tax base through a ballot initiative without a transparent data-driven plan for what comes next.

Let me give you the test you can run yourself tonight.

Go to the California Department of Finance website.

Search for billionaire tax revenue impact analysis.

See what comes up.

Then go to the California Franchise Tax Board site and search for residency audit guidance 2026.

See if there’s updated information for high- netw worth individuals.

If those documents don’t exist or aren’t easy to find, that tells you the state is reacting, not planning.

And when governments react instead of plan, working people pay the cost.

Now, let’s make this interactive because I need your help tracking this.

Comment your county and city below and tell me if you’ve seen any signs of economic pullback where you live, office closures, venture capital firms announcing moves, wealthy residents listing properties.

Don’t speculate.

Only share what you can verify or what’s been publicly reported in local news.

This will help us map the actual scope versus the noise.

Here’s a vote for you.

Type A if you think this is a real economic disruption that will hurt California’s budget in the next two years.

Type B if you think this is a panic loop and most of the billionaires threatening to leave will stay.

Then explain your reasoning in one sentence.

I want to see how people are reading this accountability question.

If the scope and revenue impact of this exodus is unclear, who has the duty to publish that information first? The governor’s office, the franchise tax board, the legislative analyst’s office, or someone else? Who should Californians be demanding answers from right now? And here’s the $50 challenge.

If you had $50 to prepare for potential economic disruption in California over the next 12 months, whether from this tax issue or broader budget problems, what three things would you buy or invest in, and why? I want to know how real people are thinking about financial resilience when the big players are making big moves.

I’ll be reading every comment and pulling the best insights for a follow-up because this story isn’t close to over.

The signature deadline is June 24th.

The vote is in November if the measure qualifies.

But the decisions that determine California’s economic future are being made right now in January and February by people moving LLC’s and hiring tax attorneys and changing their residency paperwork.

The people who can’t afford to move are the ones who need to understand what’s happening.

And right now, the official information pipeline from Sacramento is silent.

So, here’s what I need you to do.

First, verify everything I’ve said tonight.

Go find the sources.

Check the state filings.

Look up the ballot language.

Don’t take my word or anyone else’s word.

This is too important to trust talking heads.

Second, demand transparency.

Email your state representative.

Email the governor’s office.

Ask for a formal revenue impact analysis.

Ask for updated budget projections that account for business relocations.

Ask what the contingency plan is if the ballot measure passes and wealthy residents leave anyway.

Third, track the money.

Watch what happens with property sales, business relocations, and tax revenue in your county over the next six months.

That’s the real data.

That’s what will tell you if this is a crisis or a blip.

And fourth, get your own house in order.

If California’s budget is going to be more volatile in the coming years, and it will be regardless of how this ballot measure plays out, you need to be financially resilient.

That means emergency savings, diversified income, and a plan that doesn’t depend on state services staying funded at current levels.

I’ll be tracking this every week until the ballot vote.

I’ll be filing public records requests for revenue data.

I’ll be mapping which billionaires leave and which stay.

I’ll be holding Sacramento accountable for transparency.

But I can’t do this alone.

I need you reporting what you see in your city.

I need you asking the hard questions of your representatives.

I need you refusing to accept vague political statements when we deserve hard data.

California is at a turning point.

This isn’t about left versus right or rich versus poor.

This is about whether the state can manage a massive policy decision with the transparency and planning its residents deserve.

The clock is ticking.

The LLC’s are moving.

The ballot deadline is approaching.

And the working people who will bear the cost of whatever happens next still don’t have the information they need.

That ends now.

This is Luna Hopper News.

And we’re staying on this story until we get answers.

I’ll see you in the comments.

Let’s figure this out together.