Florida’s no-tax pitch keeps winning as Zuckerberg reportedly heads to Miami

Tech CEO linked to island purchase

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are reportedly buying a waterfront mansion on Indian Creek Island in Miami.

The deal has not been confirmed as closed, according to sources who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. The nearly two-acre property could be worth between $150 million and $200 million based on comparable sales.

A neighbor told the Journal that Zuckerberg said he plans to move in by April. The purchase happened off-market, meaning the property was never publicly listed.

Indian Creek is a guarded island

Indian Creek is a roughly 294-acre barrier island in Miami-Dade County with about 41 home sites. The island runs its own local government and keeps a private police force that patrols by land and water.

A single gated bridge with a police checkpoint controls access, turning away anyone who is not a resident or authorized visitor.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, investor Carl Icahn, and Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner also live there. A private 18-hole golf course and the Indian Creek Country Club fill most of the island’s interior.

Jersey Mike’s founder built the home

The property is tied to a company connected to Peter Cancro, founder of Jersey Mike’s Subs.

Cancro bought the land in 2021 for a reported $37 million, and a newly built home was finished on the site but never publicly listed.

He sold a majority stake in Jersey Mike’s to private equity firm Blackstone in a deal worth roughly $8 billion, finalized in January 2025.

The sale likely gave Cancro the resources to develop the property before finding a buyer like Zuckerberg.

California proposes a 5 percent wealth tax

The purchase comes as California considers a one-time 5 percent tax on residents worth more than $1 billion.

The 2026 Billionaire Tax Act would apply retroactively to anyone who was a California resident on Jan. 1, 2026, with payment due in 2027. Taxpayers could spread payments over five years at added cost.

Real estate held directly, pensions, and retirement accounts would not count toward the total. The Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West backs the initiative.

The measure still needs 875,000 signatures

The proposal needs roughly 875,000 verified signatures to reach the November 2026 ballot.

Organizers filed the initiative with the California Attorney General on Oct. 22, 2025, and submitted an amendment on Nov. 26, 2025.

Even if enough signatures come in and voters approve the measure, legal challenges are widely expected.

Tax attorneys say the retroactive nature of the tax could face constitutional challenges on due process grounds, which would likely delay or block collection.

Revenue would fund healthcare and schools

California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated the tax could raise tens of billions of dollars spread over several years. Ninety percent of that money would go toward healthcare services.

The remaining 10 percent would fund public education through grade 14 and food assistance programs.

Supporters say the state needs the revenue to offset roughly $100 billion in federal healthcare funding cuts over five years from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Other tech billionaires are heading south

Zuckerberg is not the only California tech figure buying property in South Florida.

Google co-founder Larry Page reportedly bought two Miami-area homes for a combined $173 million in late 2025 and early 2026.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has reportedly been in talks to buy a Miami Beach property for around $50 million.

Venture capitalist Peter Thiel opened a Miami office for his investment firm and said he has kept a personal residence there since 2020.

Jeff Bezos moved to Indian Creek in 2023 and has spent roughly $234 million on island properties.

Florida charges no state income tax

The draw is simple: Florida has no state income tax. Residents pay zero state tax on income, capital gains, and investment earnings.

Florida also charges no state estate or inheritance tax. California, by contrast, has the highest top state income tax rate in the country at 13.3 percent.

For a billionaire who turns even a fraction of their net worth into taxable income each year, the savings from relocating could reach hundreds of millions of dollars over time.

Zuckerberg has not confirmed a move

Zuckerberg has not publicly commented on the purchase or said he wants to leave California. He has lived in the state since setting up his primary home in Palo Alto in 2011.

His real estate portfolio already spans Palo Alto, Lake Tahoe, Kauai in Hawaii, and Washington, D.C. In January 2026, he pledged $50 million to Sacramento State University for STEM labs and an AI center.

Whether he established residency outside California before the Jan. 1, 2026, cutoff date remains unclear.

Supporters say the exodus is overstated

Backers of the ballot initiative say claims of a mass billionaire exodus lack evidence.

They point out that more than a month after the Jan. 1, 2026, cutoff, most of California’s roughly 200 billionaires appear to have stayed.

The campaign says the law targets worldwide assets to make evasion difficult and argues the tax would collect less than what billionaires typically gain in wealth in a single year.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said publicly that “leaving the state over the tax never crossed my mind.”

Governor Newsom opposes the tax

Gov. Gavin Newsom has publicly opposed the wealth tax, calling it damaging to the state.

California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office warned that billionaires leaving would likely cause an ongoing drop in state income tax revenue of hundreds of millions of dollars or more per year.

Critics argue the tax could discourage entrepreneurs from building companies in California.

The debate has divided California Democrats, with some candidates for governor opposing the measure and others supporting it.

Other states are watching closely

The California debate reflects a broader national conversation about how states compete for wealthy residents through tax policy. Washington and Hawaii have introduced similar wealth tax proposals.

When billionaires relocate, the states they leave can lose major income tax revenue that funds schools, healthcare, and public services.

The states that gain those residents may see economic growth but also rising housing costs.

Whether the California initiative reaches the ballot and how voters respond could shape state tax policy across the country.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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