In 2024, Mark Cuban tried hard to defend Kamala Harris' economic agenda, and it did not go well. The billionaire Shark Tank star tried, over and over, to sell voters on policies he clearly struggled to explain himself, and he got torched for it publicly and often. It was rough enough that Cuban announced he'd step back from politics after the election. He didn't. Within months, he was back to his usual anti-Trump routine on social media.
But a fight this week with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) suggests Cuban may be starting to notice just how detached his own party has become. Will he finally see the light?
The blowup started over a proposed California wealth tax, tied to a ballot measure known as Prop 40, which Khanna and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) both support. The measure would slap a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of roughly 250 billionaires, and Cuban estimates it would raise about $20 billion a year for the state. Cuban's objection is simple: most startup founders are "cash poor, stock rich," meaning their net worth is tied to company shares rather than bank accounts. He questioned how a newly wealthy founder is supposed to pay a tax like that when no bank will lend against stock in a company that's barely a year old. Cuban isn't personally exposed since he doesn't live in California, but he said he'd require any startup he invests in to relocate to Dallas, Pittsburgh, or Indiana if the measure passes.
Ro, I like you. You know that. But you need to read the state of the state.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) August 15, 2026
The number of Deca Unicorns in Cali is growing by the day as investors chase amazing startups.
A unique feature of these 10b startups is that even if they raise a billion, little, if any of that… https://t.co/l1LRaiki16
"Ideology is not a strategy, Ro," he wrote.
Khanna pushed back, arguing founders would only owe the tax if their companies actually succeeded, and wouldn't be personally liable if the business later failed. Nothing says “Welcome to California” like punishing success, right?
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He invited Cuban to tour California, Pennsylvania, and other states to hear from ordinary voters, claiming most of them ask why the rate isn't higher than 5%. He also floated a fallback: if a founder couldn't pay, the state could simply sell his shares on his behalf.
That's when Cuban told Khanna flat-out, “You don’t understand business.”
And then he lost his cool.
"Ro, in your scenario, the founder could sell to pay a one-time 5% tax or the state could sell it if he defaults on the loan," Cuban wrote. "This is the biggest f**k you in the history of entrepreneurship. Ever. Creating jobs but don't have cash. F**k you. Can't sell shares, we will sell it for you, to whoever. F**k you. Creating jobs. Paying great wages instead of taking cash out yourself. F**k you. Reinvesting into your company and community. F**k you." He noted that executives like Jensen Huang and Lisa Su already sit on vast liquidity and don't object to taxes like this, and argued that's a world apart from someone who's poured years into a company only to be told a politician can liquidate it out from under him.
Ro, “in your scenario, the founder could sell to pay a one time 5 percent tax or the state could sell it if he defaults on the loan”
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) August 16, 2026
Ro, this is the biggest fuck you in the history of entrepreneurship. Ever.
Creating jobs but don’t have cash. Fuck you
Can’t sell shares,… https://t.co/IYhoXVTSty
Khanna described his approach as “progressive capitalism,” comparing himself to FDR, who recruited General Motors executive Bill Knudsen to mobilize American industry.
If you’re reading between the lines, Khanna is probably running for president in 2028. But I digress.
Cuban countered that California already taxes income above $1 million at 13.3% and corporate earnings at 8.8%, and pointed out that 85% of the nation's venture capital went to California in the first quarter of 2026 alone, and that’s according to Khanna's own numbers. Cuban pointed out that voters would rather see lower everyday costs than one more one-time tax that funds almost nothing, all while driving higher-income business owners out of the state
Obviously, Cuban still isn't a conservative, and nobody should expect him to start voting like one. But watching a man who destroyed his own reputation to carry water for Kamala Harris erupt at a sitting Democrat for treating entrepreneurs like an ATM is worth noting. Maybe he's finally seeing what the rest of us already knew about his party. Maybe.
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