Florida and Texas both have comparable numbers of billionaires, and aren't crazy expensive.

Both have a considerably lower number billionaires (2-3x) per capita, and the Florida number should be investigated to see where the money was earned. (What’s the per capita billionaire rate of, say, Monaco or St. Tropez? Is that meaningful?) It’s certainly a nice place to retire to, as evinced by Keith.

> I don’t know what you’re getting at but it isn’t my point.

I can't tell if you're upset by their disingenuousness, or by their refusal to give a cut to the state. If the former, I sympathize. But it mostly seems to be the latter. The obvious rejoinder to which: why should they feel so eager to fork over their money to an institution that did ~nothing to contribute to their success?

> California is expensive because the opportunity to become rich is greater here than elsewhere

Your statement only explains the e.g. high housing costs. The tax question is orthogonal.