Mark Zuckerberg struck a deal with his social media company Meta on Wednesday to help shield him from a potential wealth tax in California.

Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Meta and Mark Zuckerberg cut a deal this week to help shield him from paying a potential wealth tax in California.

The deal, struck on Wednesday, gives Zuckerberg new shares in Meta that he can sell to pay toward a wealth tax should California lawmakers pass a billionaire tax. Zuckerberg must remain a resident of the state as part of the deal.

California voters will decide on the state's wealth tax proposal, Proposition 40, on Nov. 3. If passed, about 250 billionaires living in California will face a one-time tax of 5%.

Zuckerberg is among the wealthiest of California's billionaires and one of the wealthiest men in the world, worth about $239 billion. He has threatened to leave the state if the billionaire tax passes as he would face a tax bill of billions of dollars.

The shares that Zuckerberg receives as part of the agreement with Meta are non-voting shares. This means he can sell the shares without selling any portion of his control of the company.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., says the wealth tax will help working class Californians.

"Every society is taxed. The only question is who will pay," Khanna wrote to The Guardian last week. "In Trump's America, working people pay more than they should, while billionaires are so unburdened that they are becoming trillionaires. In America we seek, billionaires and trillionaires will pay their fair share, while working people will be unburdened."

If voters adopt the wealth tax it will take effect on Jan. 1.

Meta's revenues have increased by 26% in the last quarter, reaching $64.6 billion, it reported in an earnings report.

The company also faces legal challenges over its culpability in the harms of social media for children and social media addiction. In August, Meta reached an $18 billion settlement in a lawsuit from several states' attorneys general in August.