Jensen Huang says he would welcome paying more taxes if California’s Proposition 40 passes, even as the billionaire Nvidia chief could face up to $8 billion in taxes over five years under the plan. In a recent interview with CBS News, Huang called taxes “a privilege” and said, “nothing would give me more joy” than paying more.
The comments landed because Huang is not speaking as a detached observer. Forbes recently pegged his net worth at more than $197 billion, and Proposition 40 would apply to billionaires living in California as of January 1, taking 5% of their net worth in a one-off levy. For a fortune of Huang’s size, that math is what puts the figure near $8 billion over five years, if the measure is enacted and his wealth stays in that range.
Huang’s response was blunt: “The more you make, the more taxes you pay. So, I’m okay with that.” He also said he is “not afraid of paying taxes” and is “just afraid of being poor.” For a man who was sent from Taiwan to the U.S. at age nine to live with an uncle, the remarks fit the same hard-edged self-description he has used before about his rise in the country.
That rise has been central to Huang’s public image for years. He later graduated with a master’s degree from Stanford and co-founded Nvidia with friends while working as a Denny’s dishwasher. He has also described the country that welcomed him as “the ultimate American dream,” recalling in a 2026 interview with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice how amazed he was by carpets, cars and the scale of his new life. In the same interview, he said he tries to pay people as much as possible rather than as little as possible, calling success itself a privilege.
Proposition 40 would go far beyond Huang alone. California is home to around 260 billionaires, and the measure is described as a one-off wealth tax on 5% of the net worth of any billionaire living in California as of January 1 of this year. The proposal is said to generate more than $108 billion, with most of that money directed to public healthcare services and additional funding for education and food assistance programs.
But the pitch for more public money comes with a political risk: the article frames Huang’s comments against the possibility that wealthy Californians could leave ahead of the state’s November 3 vote. California already has a highest combined federal and state income tax rate of 50.3%, and critics of a wealth tax are likely to argue that another large levy could test how many billionaires are willing to stay. Huang, for his part, has made clear where he stands. What happens next depends on whether voters approve Proposition 40 on November 3, and whether California decides that billionaires should be asked to pay at a level even Huang says he can live with.
