Katie Jerkovich writes for the New York Post about the steps billionaires are taking to avoid a new California tax.
Big-money billionaires, including Larry Ellison and Sergey Brin, are flocking to ritzy little enclaves at the California-Nevada border to scoop up property and seemingly escape the Golden State’s proposed “billionaire tax.”
Brin plunked down a whopping $42 million last month on a Lake Tahoe estate in Nevada. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has also been quietly amassing luxury properties just over the state line, snapping up multimillion-dollar homes in elite Nevada enclaves like Crystal Bay and Incline Village — prized for their private beaches, gated estates, and sweeping panoramic views of the lake.
Crystal Bay — where Brin bought his mansion — is located on the north shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada’s Washoe County. It offers plenty of privacy to residents, with a population just over 300 people according to the 2020 Census.
Brin’s new pad boasts 16,232 square feet of living space, including seven bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a 10-seat theater, a 1,687-bottle wine cellar and 13 fireplaces.
The mansion also comes with 525 feet of lakefront property, complete with two boat lifts, a seasonal boat barge and its very own beach house.
Incline Village, also located on the north shore of Lake Tahoe in Washoe County has a larger population, with around 10,000 people, but still offers incredible views of the lake.
Ellison further cut ties with CA when he recently sold his sprawling 11,000 square foot five bedroom San Francisco mansion in Pacific Heights for $45 million at the end of 2025.
“Given the billions in potential damage to his fiscal house if the California Billionaire Wealth Tax actually passed in November, I would suspect that Mr. Ellison was advised that retaining a California residence was not worth the risk of some future tax claim that he was domiciled in California,” David Lesperance, a leading billionaire tax advisor, told The Post.
