Exclusive | Billionaire Rick Caruso nearly fled California over wealth tax

Former Los Angeles mayoral candidate and billionaire Rick Caruso revealed that California’s proposed billionaire tax nearly drove him out of the state.Caruso, one of the city’s most prominent developers and philanthropists, exclusively told the California Post that he enlisted lawyers and financial advisers to explore a Golden State exodus.The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story “Given the financial impact, you have to at least think about that,” the LA native said.“You have to at least consider it.”The real estate mogul, whose empire includes The Grove and the Rosewood Miramar Beach resort, weighed moving to Austin, Texas, or Florida’s Miami, Coconut Grove and Palm Beach as the proposed tax threatened to take a massive bite out of his wealth.“We were working with our lawyers and consultants on figuring out exactly what the impact was going to be on the business and the family,” he said.Caruso began exploring his options earlier this year as Proposition 40, which would impose a one-time 5% tax on California billionaires, gained momentum.As of Saturday morning, 53.7% of voters opposed the measure compared with 46.2% supporting it, with roughly 72% of the estimated vote counted, according to the latest results.The proposal promised tens of billions of dollars for healthcare, education and food assistance in the state, but opponents warned that driving wealthy taxpayers out could ultimately cost California more than the tax would generate.Some billionaires have already headed for the exits.An October study by economists Benjamin Jaros and Joshua Rauh identified seven billionaires who had publicly relocated, representing approximately $540 billion in wealth, or nearly 30% of the potential tax base.Among them were Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey...