Affirm Holdings Inc.的联合创始人、亿万富翁列夫钦表示，如果选民批准对加州居民征收至少10亿美元的一次性税收，他“可能”会离开加州。
Levchin, the billionaire co-founder of financial-technology company Affirm Holdings Inc., said he would “probably” leave California if voters approve a one-time tax on state residents worth at least $1 billion.
“我爱加州。我觉得它很美，”列夫钦在一次采访中说。“但‘大众舆论说，其实我们完全可以接受资产征收，因为我们真的非常非常需要它’这种观念，我觉得这非常错误。”51岁的列夫钦是Affirm的首席执行官，Affirm是一家总部位于旧金山的“先买后付”公司，他于2012年帮助创立，目前市值接近250亿美元。他也是一群向反对40号提案捐款的科技亿万富翁之一，该提案将允许对加州最富有的居民征收5%的税收，以帮助筹集医疗保健资金。
“I love California. I think it’s beautiful,” Levchin said in an interview. “But the notion of the popular opinion saying ‘Actually, we’re totally OK with asset seizure because we just really, really need it,’ I just think that is so wrong.”Levchin, 51, is the chief executive officer of Affirm, a San Francisco-based buy-now-pay-later company he helped create in 2012 that now has a market capitalization of nearly $25 billion. He is also part of a group of tech billionaires donating money to defeat Proposition 40, a ballot measure that would allow a 5% tax on California’s richest residents to help fund healthcare.
该提案周二提交选民投票，最近的一项民调显示，支持率未达到通过所需的多数票。该税收的批评者表示，这将迫使富裕居民、企业和投资离开该州。科技创始人也警告说，大部分财富与公司股票挂钩的亿万富翁可能被迫出售股份以支付税款，这可能会稀释他们对所创立公司的控制权。
The proposal goes before voters Tuesday, with a recent poll showing support short of the majority it needs to pass. Critics of the tax have said it would drive wealthy residents, businesses and investment out of the state. Tech founders have also warned that billionaires whose fortunes are mostly tied up in company stock could be forced to sell shares to pay the tax, potentially diluting their control over companies they helped create.
列夫钦持有拥有增强投票权的Affirm股份，他表示预计将不得不出售部分股份以筹集资金支付税款——这是他从未做过的事情。
Levchin, who owns Affirm shares with enhanced voting rights, said he expects to have to sell some of those shares to raise money to pay the tax — something he’s never done before.
“关于拟议的税收，比任何其他事情都让我担忧的是，从非流动性资产中被迫剥离的概念，”列夫钦说。“我从未出售过Affirm的一股创始人股份，我将不得不出售一些创始人股份来支付这笔税收。”该税收的支持者认为，亿万富翁可以在五年内分期支付，但需支付额外费用，这给了他们调整的时间。
“The thing that worries me about the proposed tax, more than anything else, is the notion of forced divestitures from illiquid assets,” Levchin said. “I have never sold a single founder share of Affirm and I will have to sell some founder shares to pay this tax.”Proponents of the tax argue billionaires will be able to spread the payment over five years for an additional charge, giving them time to adjust.
他们还指出，马克·扎克伯格找到的解决方案。据一份公司文件显示，在财富税被列入11月选票后，扎克伯格曾考虑离开该州。这促使Meta Platforms Inc.与其亿万富翁首席执行官达成协议，让他留在公司总部附近，并授予他一种新的无投票权股份类别，他可以出售该股份以支付税款，而不会削弱他对公司的控制权。
They also point to the solution found by Mark Zuckerberg, who considered departing the state after the wealth tax made it onto the November ballot, according to a corporate filing. That prompted Meta Platforms Inc. to strike a deal with its billionaire chief executive officer to keep him close to the company’s headquarters, giving him access to a new class of non-voting stock he can sell to pay the levy without weakening his control of the firm.
如果列夫钦依法离开加利福尼亚州，他将加入已经采取离开该州措施的其他亿万富翁之列。其中包括谷歌联合创始人谢尔盖·布林和拉里·佩奇，以及风险投资家彼得·蒂尔和大卫·萨克斯。
If Levchin follows through in legally departing California, he would join other billionaires who have already taken steps to leave the state. That includes Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, as well as venture capitalists Peter Thiel and David Sacks.
列夫钦表示，Affirm将保留其旧金山办公室，但该税将产生“巨大的寒蝉效应”，并导致其他州加倍努力吸引加利福尼亚州的公司离开。列夫钦说，创始人最终可能会重新考虑在加利福尼亚州创办新公司。
While Levchin expects Affirm to keep its San Francisco office, he said the tax would have a “massive chilling effect” and lead other states to redouble efforts to lure California-based companies away. Founders could ultimately reconsider creating new companies in California, Levchin said.
第40号提案由一家医疗工会提出，旨在抵消可能迫使医院关闭并使数百万加利福尼亚人失去保险的联邦医疗削减。但该提案分裂了该州的政治和商业界，其批评者质疑该税在设计上是否可行，或者是否合法。
Proposition 40 was pitched by a healthcare-workers union as a way to offset federal healthcare cuts that could force hospitals to close and leave millions of Californians uninsured. But the proposal has split the state’s political and business establishment, and its critics question whether the tax as designed is workable, or legal.
列夫钦于1991年随家人移民美国，当时他是16岁的苏联时代乌克兰政治难民。他后来搬到硅谷，并联合创立了后来成为PayPal的公司。
Levchin immigrated to the US with his family in 1991 as a 16-year-old political refugee from Soviet Union-era Ukraine. He later moved to Silicon Valley and co-founded the company that became PayPal.
与布林类似，布林此前曾在批评加利福尼亚税收时提及其家人在20世纪70年代逃离苏联的经历，列夫钦也将其对第40号提案的反对表述为极具个人色彩的问题。他称这是一个“情感”问题，“对我真的很重要。”列夫钦认为，加利福尼亚州本应先考虑对资产借款征税，甚至对遗产征收更重的税，再对财富征税。
Similar to Brin, who has previously evoked his family’s flight from the Soviet Union in the 1970s when criticizing the California tax, Levchin also cast his opposition to Proposition 40 in deeply personal terms. He calls it an “emotional” issue “that really matters to me.”To Levchin, California should have instead contemplated taxes on borrowing against assets or even heavier levies on inheritance, before taxing wealth.
“我认为，从纯粹的经济学角度来看，强制剥离非流动资产的想法是一个非常、非常糟糕的主意。而且，似乎没有一个支持这项税收的人理解它有多糟糕，”列夫钦说。“我毫不掩饰地反对这项特定的税收。”
“I think the notion of forced divestiture of illiquid assets is just a very, very bad idea from a pure economic perspective. And zero people who have argued in favor of this tax seem to understand just how bad it is,” Levchin said. “I am unabashedly against this particular tax.”