Thiel Capital, founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, opens a new office in Miami as California debates a wealth tax

• Thiel Capital opened a new Miami office amid California's proposed wealth tax debate.
• Peter Thiel, who founded Thiel Capital, bought a home in the area in 2020.
• A healthcare workers' union floated a 5% tax on CA residents with net worths exceeding $1 billion.

Thiel Capital is expanding in Miami.

On Wednesday, the private investment firm founded by the billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel said it has opened a new office in Miami.

Thiel Capital's press release said that the new office is located in Wynwood, a former warehouse district that has become a hub for startups, investors, and cultural institutions. The lease was signed in December, and the new office will "complement Thiel Capital's existing operations in Los Angeles," the firm said.

The announcement comes as a proposal for a wealth tax was floated in California.

Miami's startup and finance scene heated up during the pandemic and in the years that followed, with many big firms from California and New York relocating their headquarters and expanding their offices there.

San Francisco-based Founders Fund, the venture capital firm cofounded by Thiel, has had an office in Miami since 2021. In 2020, Thiel bought an $18 million house in Miami's Venetian Islands.

California is debating a proposed wealth tax that would impose a one-time 5% tax on residents with net worths exceeding $1 billion, to be paid over five years.

The wealth tax still needs 870,000 signatures to even make it to the ballot in November 2026, where it would then be approved or rejected by voters at the ballot box. However, billionaires have already been critical of the plan and warned of an exodus of the wealthy.

It was proposed by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West and designed to offset anticipated cuts to healthcare, education, and food assistance.

In comparison to an income tax, a wealth tax is a levy on all of an individual's net worth, because it is difficult to quantify the annual income of a person who doesn't earn normal paychecks but has other assets that gain value every year. The tax would apply to the roughly 200 billionaires residing in California, which has a total population of over 39 million people. The SEIU-UHW estimates that the one-time tax will bring in $100 billion over five years for the state.

Celebrity attorney Alex Spiro wrote a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom on behalf of his clients, warning that his clients will "permanently relocate" if the California wealth tax passes.

Izzy Gardon, a spokesperson for Newsom's office, told Business Insider that the governor has "consistently opposed state-level wealth taxes" and that a wealth tax, "if implemented at a state-only level, they drive a race to the bottom."

If passed, the wealth tax would apply retroactively to all California residents as of January 1, 2026.