Facing a $134 Trillion Tax Bill, This Tycoon Gives an Unexpected Response

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has spoken out regarding the imposition of taxes on the world’s richest individuals in line with California, United States (US) regulations. He claims to have no issue with the potential tax payment amounting to US7.75billionorRp134trillion(assuminganexchangerateofRp17, 300perUS). According to a CNBC Indonesia note from early January, Huang’s wealth reached US$155 billion. This means he could be subject to a tax obligation of US$7.75 billion, as California’s tax rule imposes a 5% rate on individuals with wealth exceeding US$1.1 billion. Huang stated that he has never thought about the rule. He also assured that he would pay in accordance with the provisions because he chooses to live in the California area. “We choose to live in Silicon Valley, and whatever tax is applied, it doesn’t matter to me,” Huang explained. The attitude shown by Huang differs from other billionaires. Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril, said the tax proposal would force billionaires to sell most of their companies to pay the tax. “Now my co-founders and I have to find billions of dollars in cash,” he wrote in a post on 28 December on the social media platform X. Meanwhile, venture capitalist and one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, Vinod Khosla, said the wealth tax would make rich people flee from California. The tax rule has been proposed since November 2025. Healthcare sector unions and a number of progressive US legislators support the rule targeting the 200 richest people in the world. From that rule, the California government could at least collect tax revenue of up to US$100 billion. The funds are planned to be used to cover the swelling health budget deficit due to federal spending cuts, as well as to finance public education and food assistance programmes. Many support the initiative, with more than 870,000 signatures collected in the November vote to implement the rule. The tax imposition will apply to all economically valuable assets, such as shares and business ownerships. This requirement will still apply even if the taxpayer moves in early 2026. Property assets will be excluded because they are already subject to property tax. Meanwhile, the local government is opening opportunities for tax payments to be made in instalments over up to five years.