A 23-year-old millionaire entrepreneur who was making ready to transfer to San Francisco has scrapped his plans over California’s proposed wealth tax.
Emil Barr warned the state’s political climate could drive away younger business founders and price residents job alternatives.
Barr, who immigrated to the US from Russia when he was just three, is the founder of Flashpass, a Columbus, Ohio-based company that helps laid-off employees develop new abilities and discover jobs quicker.
Emil Barr, 23, founder of Flashpass, canceled plans to transfer his business to San Francisco after contemplating California’s regulatory and tax setting. Courtesy of Emil Barr
He had already signed a personal lease in San Francisco and deliberate to relocate first, settle into the metropolis and probably carry his business to California afterward.
But Barr modified his thoughts after studying about Proposition 40, a proposed wealth tax concentrating on the state’s richest residents on this yr’s Nov. 3 poll, which he fears could ultimately increase to millionaires like himself.
“I just didn’t feel welcomed as an entrepreneur,” Barr informed The California Post. “Obviously, I’m a little bit more sensitive to this because I work with government, but I said, why would I move to a state where the government is basically, first of all, villainizing entrepreneurs and saying that, for some reason, if you built a successful chip manufacturing company, the fact that the healthcare system isn’t working is your fault?”
Barr initially immigrated to the United States from Russia when he was 3-years-old.
Proposition 40 would levy a one-time 5% tax on billionaires who were residing in California as of Jan. 1, 2026.
Unlike income taxes, the measure would goal their whole gathered wealth, with the bulk of the money raised going toward the state’s healthcare.
Barr is not the only distinguished critic of the proposal. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has also come out against the measure, while Google cofounder Sergey Brin has contributed money to efforts to defeat it.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom appears to be like on at the California Economic Summit in Long Beach, California, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. AFP via Getty Images
But supporters, including Debru Carthan, vice president of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, the union spearheading the initiative, have pushed back against warnings that the tax would ship rich Californians and traders fleeing the state.
Carthan informed Fortune that those issues are unfounded. Supporters argue the measure is vital to help offset an estimated $100 billion in federal healthcare funding that California could lose over the next 5 years.
As for Barr, he said the proposed tax was also notably concerning because of its potential retroactive implications, which he believes could drive rich people to pay taxes based mostly on property they held before the measure was authorized.
Although the proposal would not at present apply to him, he fears it could set a precedent for taxing entrepreneurs with smaller fortunes.
“Today it’s the billionaires,” Barr said, expressing concern that future proposals could goal people price $10 million or more.
For Barr, the resolution wasn’t merely about avoiding increased taxes. He said he understood that doing business in California would be costly and was initially prepared to settle for that price.
What finally drove him away, he said, was what he perceived as an more and more hostile political perspective toward profitable entrepreneurs.
“Why would I move to a state where the government is basically, first of all, villainizing entrepreneurs,” Barr said.
His resolution could also have penalties beyond his own business.
Barr based Flashpass about two years in the past after promoting his first company, Step Up Social, a advertising and media business he began at 18 while in school.
Flashpass now works with authorities companies to help unemployed people retrain and return to the workforce more effectively.
The metropolis skyline of San Francisco, California, where Barr thought he could carry his business. SeanPavonePhoto – stock.adobe.com
California initially appeared like an very best place to increase because of its focus of artificial intelligence corporations and analysis labs.
Barr believed the state would be among the first to expertise main job displacement as AI technology advances, creating an alternative for Flashpass to help employees transition into new careers.
“We saw like a very logical reason to be near the newest AI developments and also closest to the people that are losing their jobs first due to AI,” Barr said.
He argued that without his company establishing a presence in California, residents could have fewer alternatives to access its companies and discover employment shortly.
“I don’t think California is going to have the same level of access to our platform,” Barr said, including that residents “aren’t going to be able to find new work as quickly just by virtue of our business not being there.”
Emil Barr conducting a presentation for the first company he based: Step Up Social.
Those potential results stay unsure, however, because Barr had not yet dedicated to relocating the company or established how many California employees Flashpass might have served.
His authentic plan was to transfer himself to San Francisco before deciding whether to relocate the business.
“I had a personal lease in place and I was planning to move,” Barr said.
But without the founder residing in California, he said, transferring the company’s headquarters there was no longer a life like chance.
Barr acknowledged that California would lose comparatively little in taxes from his resolution alone. Instead, he believes the bigger concern is what could occur if other younger entrepreneurs observe his lead.
He said he knows other business founders who have privately determined to depart California or keep away from relocating there, although many are reluctant to converse publicly about their selections because of Silicon Valley’s popularity as a international middle of innovation.
“There’s this like idea that if you’re not in Silicon Valley, you can’t build an innovative company,” Barr said.
He believes entrepreneurs who disagree with California’s insurance policies should make their opposition identified through their business selections, rather than persevering with to invest in a state whose political leaders they believe are concentrating on them.
Barr’s company stays based mostly in Columbus, where it was established after receiving its first authorities contract from the state of Ohio.
He said he has not ruled out relocating the business elsewhere, but California is no longer under consideration.
“I’m not even 100% sure we’ll keep the business in Ohio,” Barr said. “But I definitely know it’s not going to be California just based off of the political and business rhetoric that’s coming out of that state right now.”
