Legendary director Steven Spielberg has officially left California for New York — becoming the latest in a growing line of wealthy taxpayers to flee the Golden State as voters prepare a massive tax on fortunes exceeding $1 billion.
Spielberg and his wife, actress Kate Capshaw, became New York residents on Jan. 1, moving into the exclusive San Remo co-op on Central Park West in Manhattan, the Los Angeles Times reported. On the same day, Spielberg’s production company, Amblin Entertainment, opened a new office in New York City.
His spokesperson, Terry Press, refused to comment on Spielberg’s move and California’s proposed Billionaires Tax Act of 2026.
“Steven’s move to the East Coast is both long-planned and driven purely by his and Kate Capshaw’s desire to be closer to their New York-based children and grandchildren,” Press told the LA Times.
The timing raises eyebrows. Jan. 1 is the exact date built into the proposed measure’s retroactivity clause — meaning anyone who was a California resident on that date would owe the tax if voters approve it in November. With a Forbes-estimated net worth of $7.1 billion, Spielberg’s potential tax bill under the proposal would be approximately $355 million.
Spielberg joins a host of billionaires fleeing from California. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg has purchased a $150 million waterfront mansion in South Florida. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has also left the state, along with tech mogul Peter Thiel, White House advisor David Sacks, and In-N-Out Burger heiress Lynsi Snyder.
Fox Business has reported that more than $1 trillion in wealth has fled California, representing at least half of the wealth held by the state’s billionaires.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said he is opposed to the Billionaires Tax Act. Despite his opposition, the measure is headed for a November ballot vote, backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, who traveled to Los Angeles this week for the campaign’s launch.
“The billionaire class no longer sees itself as part of American society,” Sanders said Wednesday. “They’re saying there’s nothing you can do about it. Well, we’ve got some bad news for them, starting right here in California.”
Spielberg has been one of the Democratic Party’s largest individual donors for decades. He and Capshaw contributed more than $400,000 to Democratic candidates and causes in recent election cycles alone. His departure for New York — a state whose own mayor is currently pushing a 9.5% property tax increase — drew immediate criticism of a major Democratic donor fleeing the tax policies he helped fund.