Steven Spielberg, one of the most celebrated directors in Hollywood history and one of the Democratic Party's most prominent fundraisers, has moved from California to Manhattan.

His spokeswoman, Terry Press, offered a tidy explanation:

"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."

Family. Grandchildren. Nothing to see here.

According to the NY Post, Press did not answer queries about Spielberg's stance on California's proposed Billionaire Tax Act, a one-time 5% levy on individual fortunes exceeding $1 billion that voters will decide on this November. If approved, it applies retroactively to the beginning of this year.

Spielberg is not the only billionaire heading for the door. Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are shopping for homes in Miami. Mark Zuckerberg, another longtime California resident, is reportedly doing the same in Florida. The pattern is not subtle.

The Tax That Explains the Timing

The 2026 Billionaire Tax Act would impose a one-time 5% tax on fortunes exceeding $1 billion. Proponents say it will raise "tens of billions of dollars" for California's health care shortfalls. Voters reportedly back it overwhelmingly, though no specific polling numbers have been published to support that claim.

Meanwhile, Sergey Brin is funding an opposition effort called "Building a Better California," which has raised $35 million to fight the measure. Even Governor Gavin Newsom has come out against the tax, arguing it will drive billionaires out of the state.

Newsom is right. It already is.

The left treats wealth like a fixed resource sitting in a vault, waiting to be taxed. It isn't. Wealth is mobile, and the people who hold it are even more so. A billionaire can relocate faster than a ballot measure can pass. California is learning this in real time, and the lesson is expensive.

Bernie Sanders Rallies for the Revolution

While billionaires pack their bags, Senator Bernie Sanders held a rally in Los Angeles to drum up support for the tax. His rhetoric landed exactly where you'd expect:

"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."

He also declared:

"Never before in American history have we seen the kind of greed, arrogance and moral turpitude."

Sanders has made a career out of treating the existence of billionaires as a moral emergency. But here's the problem with telling billionaires they'll "learn" who has the power: they already know. They're learning it right now, by leaving. The "democratic society" Sanders invokes doesn't have jurisdiction over someone who moves to Florida.

This is the fundamental contradiction of punitive tax policy. You can vote to seize wealth. You cannot vote to keep the wealthy from walking away before you do.

It Never Stays at Billionaires

Rep. Kevin Kiley, a California Republican, has introduced a congressional bill to prohibit retroactive taxes. He also raised the alarm that everyone paying attention already feels:

"So, they are saying it's just for billionaires. But of course it starts with billionaires and then they continue to lower the threshold, ensnaring more and more people."

This is not speculation. It is the history of every "targeted" tax in American politics. The income tax began as a levy on the ultra-wealthy. The Alternative Minimum Tax was designed to catch a few hundred millionaires and eventually hit millions of middle-class families. The assurance that a tax will only affect a tiny handful of people is the oldest lie in progressive fiscal policy.

Today it's a 5% tax on fortunes over $1 billion. If the billionaires leave and the revenue never materializes, where does Sacramento turn next? The threshold drops. The rate climbs. The target shifts to anyone who can't afford a moving truck to Miami.

The Real Story Spielberg's Exit Tells

Spielberg is a true-blue Democrat. He has raised enormous sums for the party. His politics are not in question. And yet, when California proposed reaching into his pocket, he relocated to a city three thousand miles away and sent his spokeswoman out to talk about grandchildren.

This is what makes the billionaire exodus so revealing. These aren't conservative dissidents fleeing a state they ideologically oppose. These are people who funded, championed, and voted for the very political apparatus now coming for their assets. Spielberg, Brin, Page, Zuckerberg: they built the California that California has become. They supported the politicians, backed the causes, and hosted the fundraisers.

And when the bill arrived, they did what anyone with the means to do so would do. They left.

The progressive project depends on wealthy allies who will fund the movement and then hold still when the movement turns on them. That's not how human beings work. It's not even how Democrat donors work, apparently.

California's Choice

The November vote will tell us whether California's electorate cares more about making a statement or keeping a tax base. The tens of billions proponents promise depend on the billionaires actually being there to pay. Every exit makes the math worse. Every U-Haul to Florida is revenue California will never collect.

Newsom understands this, which is why he opposes the measure despite leading a state government that desperately wants the money. Even Sacramento's own governor knows the difference between a tax that raises revenue and a tax that raises moving vans.

Spielberg, for his part, is already settling into Manhattan. His spokeswoman would like you to know it's about family. Maybe it is. But the timing tells its own story, and Terry Press's silence on the tax tells the rest.

California spent decades building a paradise for the wealthy and powerful. Now it wants to charge them for the privilege of having stayed. They're responding the only way the math allows.

E.T. went home. So did Spielberg.