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Ben Horowitz (a16z) said in a January show appearance that California's proposed…

2026-06-26 · 17:43 UTC ·@tbpn ·1 min read

Brief

Ben Horowitz of a16z warned on a January show (clip posted by @tbpn on 2026-06-26) that California's proposed wealth tax is "the best strategy" to break Silicon Valley's network effect. He compared it to Norway's unrealized capital-gains tax, claiming founders are forced to emigrate because they can't pay taxes on marked-up, illiquid private equity.

Why it matters

Ben Horowitz (a16z) said in a January show appearance that California's proposed wealth tax is "the best strategy" he's seen to dismantle Silicon Valley's network effect.

Key details

  • Horowitz cited Norway's unrealized capital-gains tax as a parallel, claiming entrepreneurs left because private-company equity gets marked up but is illiquid — "I literally can't pay the tax...so, I have to leave the country" — and that "there are basically no tech entrepreneurs in Norway now."
Source evidence

a16z's @bhorowitz says the California wealth tax is the "best strategy" to dismantle Silicon Valley that he's ever seen.

"It's been so hard to break the Silicon Valley network effect, but this is the best strategy I've seen."

"Norway has an unrealized capital gains tax. Norway's got a lot of extremely smart people, great entrepreneurs, but they all left."

"When you talk to entrepreneurs in Norway, they're like, 'I literally can't pay the tax because the company got marked up, and I own a lot of it, and I can't get that money out.'"

"'It's a private company. I'm stuck. So, I have to leave the country.'"

"There are basically no tech entrepreneurs in Norway now."

From his appearance on the show in January.

Video