Meet a 23-Year-Old Millionaire Who Canceled His Plan to Move to San Francisco Because of a Billionaire Tax He Might Never Have to Pay
15th October 2026
Fortune, a Voice of the Crust.
At 23, Emil Barr is already a millionaire building a business in Columbus, Ohio. But San Francisco’s investors and AI scene caught his eye—enough that the Flashpass founder told Fortune he signed a lease to move there about a year ago.
He changed his mind after looking more closely at California’s regulatory and tax environment, including its proposed billionaire wealth tax, which helped persuade him to cancel the move entirely. He wouldn’t owe the tax under the current proposal, but fears it could pave the way for taxes on millionaires like him.
“I think it was less of a matter of immediate finances,” Barr told Fortune. Instead, he pointed to what he described as California’s “anti-entrepreneurial” political rhetoric.