Flashpass founder Emil Barr canceled plans to move to San Francisco after reconsidering California’s tax and regulatory climate, Fortune reported. The decision brings a personal relocation story into a debate over Proposition 40—but the measure, as currently described in official voter materials, would not apply to Barr, who is a millionaire rather than a billionaire.
What the proposal covers—and what Barr fears
Proposition 40 would impose a one-time tax of up to 5% on covered assets held by billionaires who lived in California on Jan. 1, 2026. The tax would be payable in 2027, with an option to spread payments over five years; listed assets include businesses, securities, art, collectibles and intellectual property, while real property and some retirement accounts are excluded. The official voter guide says 90% of revenue would go to health care, and the Legislative Analyst’s Office projects tens of billions of dollars over several years.
Barr told Fortune he worries the measure could signal future taxes affecting people with less wealth, and objected to what he sees as political rhetoric hostile to entrepreneurs. He also raised concerns about how assets acquired before approval might be treated and said he believes future proposals could reach people worth $10 million or more. Those are Barr’s concerns, not provisions of Proposition 40 as summarized in the California Secretary of State’s official voter guide. Fortune reported that Barr had signed a San Francisco lease about a year before its article, then canceled the move after reconsidering the state’s climate; he had considered the city for its investors, AI companies and possible demand for Flashpass’s services.
Ohio growth, alongside a separate public system
Flashpass has built its workforce-platform business in Columbus. The company says its technology helps government agencies connect people with training and employment, including workers displaced by AI. It announced a $4.25 million seed round that closed March 18, led by J2 Ventures, with three other investors participating, according to Cincinnati.com. Flashpass said it supports more than 1,000 students at training centers and community colleges and planned to introduce a job-matching engine later in the year.
Those company activities should not be conflated with Ohio’s public workforce services. The Ohio Auditor of State counted 88 OhioMeansJobs centers statewide, 66 offering only a select number of programs or services, and reported that the state did not centrally track which programs and services were available at each center. Ohio’s Office of Workforce Development says its WIOA performance system accounts for participant characteristics and labor-market conditions.
The contrast with San Francisco is not a direct comparison of results: the city’s FY 2024–29 workforce plan lists clients earning a living wage two years after a program as a measure of success, and the system reaches over 80,000 participants. These public measures offer context for the workforce services discussed in the debate, not evidence of Flashpass’s outcomes or of what workers displaced by AI will experience.
Migration evidence does not settle the debate
Research on tax-related moves offers competing context, but does not establish what Proposition 40 would cause. A 2023 analysis by the California Budget & Policy Center found that California had the second-lowest out-migration rate among states for households earning at least $200,000 from 2011 through 2021. The analysis also discusses work and family ties in relation to migration. Those figures concern high-income households overall, not billionaires deciding whether to leave because of this proposal.
CalMatters reported earlier research finding limited millionaire tax flight. The outlet also reported that researchers could not predict whether Proposition 40 would produce a large-scale billionaire exodus. These studies and estimates concern different tax changes, populations and periods; they do not show that Barr’s decision, or any future effect on California jobs, was caused by the proposal.
Barr told Fortune that he had not decided whether to move Flashpass’s headquarters and that he knows founders who have privately decided to leave California or not move there. Fortune also reported that Flashpass has employees and investors in California and that Barr continues to travel there. The company’s Columbus base and seed financing document its Ohio presence, but neither establishes whether it will stay there long term or whether the proposed tax will change other founders’ plans.
