Young entrepreneur cancels San Francisco move over California wealth tax proposal

Emil Barr, a 23-year-old entrepreneur who founded the job-training platform Flashpass, said he will not move to San Francisco after discovering California’s Proposition 40, a ballot measure that would impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires’ accumulated wealth. Barr, who immigrated from Russia at age three, had signed a personal lease in the city and was considering expanding his business to the state before the proposal was announced.

“I just didn’t feel welcomed as an entrepreneur,” Barr told The California Post. “Why would I move to a state where the government is basically villainizing entrepreneurs?”

Proposition 40, slated for the November 3 ballot, targets the state’s richest residents and would direct most of the revenue to healthcare funding. Although the measure applies only to billionaires, Barr expressed concern that it could set a precedent for future taxes on individuals with fortunes of $10 million or more.

“Today it’s the billionaires,” he said, adding that future proposals might target people worth $10 million or more.

California Governor Gavin Newsom and Google co-founder Sergey Brin have publicly opposed the initiative, while supporters such as Debru Carthan of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West argue the tax is needed to offset an estimated $100 billion loss in federal healthcare funding.

Barr founded Flashpass two years ago after selling his first company, Step Up Social. The platform works with government agencies to help displaced workers acquire new skills and find employment more quickly. He initially saw California’s concentration of artificial-intelligence firms as an opportunity to serve workers affected by automation.

“We saw 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 explained.

With his relocation plans abandoned, Barr indicated that moving Flashpass’s headquarters to California is no longer realistic. He noted that while his personal decision has limited fiscal impact on the state, it could influence other young founders who might consider leaving California if they perceive a hostile policy environment.

“There’s this idea that if you’re not in Silicon Valley, you can’t build an innovative company,” he said.

Flashpass remains based in Columbus, Ohio, where it secured its first government contract. Barr has not ruled out relocating the business elsewhere but ruled out California as an option.

“I’m not even 100% sure we’ll keep the business in Ohio, but I definitely know it’s not going to be California,” he concluded.