Steven Spielberg, phone home!
The legendary “E.T.” director and California resident has moved to Manhattan amid a billionaire exodus from the Golden State — as voters eye a controversial wealth tax.
But the move allegedly had nothing to do with the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Legendary director Steven Spielberg has reportedly decamped to Manhattan from California. Jim Ruymen/UPI/Shutterstock
Steven Spielberg’s West Los Angeles residence. Getty Images“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,” spokeswoman Terry Press told the outlet.
Press did not answer queries about Spielberg’s stance on the proposed tax, which would slap a one-time 5% tax on individual fortunes exceeding $1 billion.
Spielberg’s move was first reported by the New York Times.
The tax, if approved by voters in November, would apply retroactively to the beginning of this year.
Proponents argue it will raise tens of billions of dollars to go toward the state’s health care shortfalls, while opponents — including Gov. Gavin Newsom — argue it’ll force skinflint billionaires to leave the state.
Steven Spielberg speaks onstage at the 50th Annual AFI Life Achievement Award. Getty Images for Warner Bros. DiscoveryGoogle co-founder Sergey Brin wants to kill the tax.
He’s funding an effort to spur more opposition by appealing to California’s voting masses, who so far overwhelmingly back the tax.
Brin’s group, Building a Better California, has raised $35 million in its effort to protect billionaires from the tax man.
At the same time, he, other billionaires and tech titans are preemptively moving out of California — and also spending top dollar on real estate to protect their bottom lines.
Brin is shopping for a Miami home, as is his fellow Google co-founder Larry Page.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is eyeing a move to Florida, according to a report. Getty Images
Another California tech billionaire, Larry Page, has been shopping around Florida. APFacebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, another longtime California denizen, is also shopping for a Florida home, reports say.
Zuckerberg’s politics are slightly more fluid than those of Spielberg, a true-blue Democrat who is one of the party’s most prominent fundraisers and donors.
Other prominent lefties have championed it — including socialist US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who held a raucous Wednesday rally in Los Angeles to drum up support.
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“Starting right here in California, these billionaires are going to learn we are still living in a democratic society where the people have the power,” Sanders told the crowd.
“Never before in American history have we seen the kind of greed, arrogance and moral turpitude.”
California Republicans have raised alarms that the tax on billionaires will lay the groundwork for future levies on the less well-to-do, especially if the mega-wealthy flee and shrink the tax base.
“So, they are saying it’s just for billionaires,” said Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.), who has introduced a congressional bill to prohibit retroactive taxes.
“But of course it starts with billionaires and then they continue to lower the threshold, ensnaring more and more people.”
