Mark Cuban Blasts Ro Khanna's California Wealth Tax Loan Plan as 'Insane'

August 17, 2026 at 06:57 PM2 min

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Mark Cuban attacked Representative Ro Khanna's proposal for California government loans to billionaires to pay a proposed wealth tax, calling the idea 'insane' in an exchange on X. Khanna supports a one-time 5% tax on billionaire wealth that California voters will decide in November. Cuban said the plan would drive startup founders out of California.

Key Facts

Mark Cuban called Ro Khanna's proposal for state loans to help billionaires pay wealth taxes 'insane' in an exchange on X over the weekend.
Khanna supports a proposed one-time 5% tax on billionaires' wealth that is on the California ballot in November.
Cuban, who has a $10.6 billion fortune and a stake in the Dallas Mavericks, called the plan 'the biggest insult in the history of entrepreneurship. Ever.'
Khanna said 'most of the 250 billionaires in California DO NOT have this liquidity issue' and named Jensen Huang, Lisa Su and Sundar Pichai as leaders who would stay.
The proposal has prompted some billionaires to leave California and drawn rebukes from Palmer Luckey and Bill Ackman.

The Loan Proposal

Khanna suggested California could lend money to billionaires with large paper fortunes to help them pay the tax, in exchange for shares with terms that are 'long but not infinite.' At the end of the period, the loan is either repaid in cash or the government assumes the shares, Khanna said. Khanna argued that 'most of the 250 billionaires in California DO NOT have this liquidity issue' and therefore would not need a loan. He named Nvidia Corp.'s Jensen Huang, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s Lisa Su and Alphabet Inc.'s Sundar Pichai as business leaders who would remain in California if the tax passes.

Cuban's Response

Cuban rejected the loan idea, posting: 'Ro, that's insane. You want the state to loan money to the founder, who will then immediately give it back to the state as a wealth tax?' He said the scheme results in no incremental state receipts and called it 'the biggest insult in the history of entrepreneurship. Ever.' If the tax passes, 'only idiot startup founders stay in Cali,' Cuban wrote, adding that he would ask any multibillion-dollar startup investment to move out of California first. Cuban is a Dallas resident with a $10.6 billion fortune and a stake in the Dallas Mavericks, and has supported Democratic candidates including Kamala Harris but opposes the wealth tax.

California Ballot Fight

The proposed one-time 5% tax on billionaires' wealth is on the California ballot this November. The measure has rattled the ultra-wealthy, fractured state politics and put Khanna at odds with some of his former wealthy backers. It has raised questions about whether founders will need to sell stakes in their businesses to fund the levy. Anduril Industries co-founder Palmer Luckey and investor Bill Ackman also rebuked Khanna's proposal.