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Billionaires are becoming an even rarer species in California. A proposed one-time 5% tax on their wealth has led several of the state\u2019s wealthiest residents, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, to flee to Nevada and Florida. But Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is doubling down on his commitment to the Golden State.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI say to everybody, \u2018Move to California, don\u2019t leave.\u2019 It\u2019s the highest taxes in the world, but it\u2019s okay,\u201d Huang said in conversation with Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business last week. He added that the great weather is a bonus.\u00a0Of course, Huang wasn\u2019t talking to just anyone, but one of the chief exponents of the wealth tax, nationwide and in California.<\/p>\n
In March, Khanna and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) introduced the \u201cMake Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act,\u201d a bill that would establish a 5% annual wealth tax on the more than 1,000 U.S.-based billionaires. And in December, Khanna was outspoken about the ballot initiative in California to impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on billionaires\u00a0in the state. In a widely circulated social media post, he invoked FDR\u2019s famous rebuke of wealthy \u201croyalists\u201d who threatened to leave the country, writing that if Silicon Valley billionaires exit California over the tax, \u201cI will miss them very much.\u201d <\/p>\n
This tweet sparked a fierce revolt from tech executives and investors, many of whom were previously among Khanna\u2019s biggest donors and allies. Venture capitalist Ethan Agarwal launched a primary challenge against Khanna, accusing him of prioritizing future presidential ambitions over his district\u2019s interests. Former Google chairman Eric Schmidt began backing a super PAC to oppose the ballot measure and push a competing initiative to block the wealth tax. Even Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom \u2014 also seen as a 2028 presidential contender \u2014 came out \u201cadamantly\u201d against the measure. Anduril Industries founder Palmer Luckey, who is worth $3.6 billion, spoke out against Khanna and his support for the billionaire tax.\u00a0\u201cYou are fighting to force founders like me to sell huge chunks of our companies to pay for fraud, waste, and political favors for the organizations pushing this ballot initiative,\u201d Luckey wrote in a post on X. <\/p>\n
Against this backdrop, Huang\u2019s appearance with Khanna is notable for his status as the eighth richest person in the world, with a net worth of about $167 billion, alone. The one-time billionaires tax would cost him more than $8 billion, but he has been saying for months that he\u2019s happy to pay up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In January, as news of his fellow billionaires\u2019 exodus to Florida and Nevada emerged, Huang told Bloomberg that he was \u201cperfectly fine\u201d paying the billionaires tax. \u201cI haven\u2019t thought about it even once,\u201d he said. \u201cWe work in Silicon Valley because that\u2019s where the talent pool is. We have offices all over the world. Wherever there\u2019s talent, we have an office.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite concerns about how the levy would affect California\u2019s tax base from people such as Gov. Gavin Newsom, the tax is still not on the ballot. The tax\u2019s proponents need to get about 875,000 valid signatures supporting the initiative by June 25 to qualify for the Nov. 3 election.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe chose to live in Silicon Valley, and whatever taxes they would like to apply, so be it,\u201d Huang said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pushing back on AI \u2018narratives\u2019<\/p>\n
Huang\u2019s comments on California came as he and Khanna addressed fears over AI taking over jobs. Even in business-friendly California, Americans are souring on artificial intelligence, and Nvidia technology is at the center of AI development.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the narratives of AI destroying jobs is not going to help America,\u201d Huang said. \u201cFirst of all, it\u2019s just false. Of course, with every technology, and every single day that goes by, jobs of the past are changed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He gave the example of the jobs of radiologists. In 2016, Geoffrey Hilton\u2014the computer scientist widely considered to be the \u201cGodfather of AI\u201d\u2014predicted radiologists\u2019 jobs would be completely replaced by AI because the technology would easily read and analyze scans.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA decade later, he was completely right. AI has completely permeated through every aspect of radiology. Every single radiology scan is now assisted by AI,\u201d Huang said. \u201cThe part that was exactly opposite is the number of radiologists increased.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why was that, he asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe purpose of your job and the tasks that you do in your job are related but not the same,\u201d he explained. \u201cUsing myself as an example, if they were the same, then somebody would observe that what Jensen does really for a living is typing and talking. And typing and talking have both been automated to a superhuman level by AI.\u00a0 And yet I\u2019m busier than ever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In the case of radiologists,\u00a0 their job is to help diagnose diseases and work with patients and doctors, Huang said. Now with AI, radiologists can admit more patients and do more scans. This increases profits for hospitals, which encourages them to hire more radiologists. The field is expected to grow by 25% by 2055, according to the radiology organization Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe jobs didn\u2019t disappear. The task was automated,\u201d Huang said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
#Dont #leave #Jensen #Huang #challenges #billionaire #class #insists #highest #taxes #world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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