A billionaire has revealed he still flies in coach despite his vast wealth, as he warned that a proposed billionaires' tax in California could spell the end for his Silicon Valley-based company.

Palmer Luckey, the founder of defense startup Anduril, explained that he was still choosing the cheaper travel option to set an example for his company's workers.

'If I'm going to ask my employees to do it. I need to do it too, even when it's my own money, even when it's my own cost,' Luckey, 33, told the My First Million podcast.

He added: 'Yes, I have a lot of money, but if I don't also do it, it feels like I'm out of touch or I don't know what it's like.'

Luckey has a net worth valued at $3.5billion, according to Forbes.

He recently lashed out at the proposed billionaires' tax in California. 

'You are fighting to force founders like me to sell huge chunks of our companies to pay for fraud, waste, and political favors for the organizations pushing this ballot initiative,' he wrote on X.

'I made my money from my first company, paid hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes on it, used the remainder to start a second company that employs 6,000 people,' he said. 'And now me and my cofounders have to somehow come up with billions of dollars in cash.'

Anduril founder Palmer Luckey, who is valued at $3.5billion, revealed that he still flies coach despite his massive riches

Luckey explained that he still preferred to fly coach, even in his personal travel, to set an example for his company's employees 

Luckey's comments were originally made in October 2022 but resurfaced after he spoke out against the suggested new tax.

The Anduril founder explained that his unlikely decision to fly coach, as opposed to the more luxurious options available to him, was a 'reasoned thing.'

'It's only a few hours,' he said. 'It is a very bad use of company money for us to be buying business or first class for people.'

Luckey added: 'Because we have so much travel at the company, we could easily spend a very serious fraction of our resources on just people traveling in slightly better seats.'

He said this logic extended to his own personal travels - even despite his billions.

He added: 'For me, a lot of it is setting an example.'