General Discussion

(Don’t shoot the messenger, just stating observations over several decades)

Wife retired as CPA, with some really wealthy clients. She wasn’t their “Tax CPA” but saw it all.

For practical purposes, it’s virtually impossible to trap billionaires into paying $$$$$$$$$$$$:

They’re very dollar savvy: spending $1M to save $10M to $50M is a now a no-brainer.

They hire incredibly smart tax experts to craft (sometimes) very complex Tax Avoidance strategies.

They already have multiple residences around the country. Changing official domicile location is less than a day’s effort including a quick flight on their private jet to get a new license.

They often can lobby a small, innocuous loophole into legislation that looks ironclad but actually is a get out of jail free card.

Yes, CA can probably get something, but it won’t be 5%. Or 1%. With small changes to their lifestyle, they may need to spend another few weeks in St Tropez to not meet CA residency requirements, but they have options most of us don’t.

Again, I don’t like it, it isn’t right, and I’m guessing no one here approves of it, but CA probably has a better chance convicting Mother Theresa (posthumously) on homicide charges than collecting 20% of what they think they will get.