Taxes may have hurried the decision, but the tax climate in LA isn’t great, either.
Playboy is just one guy, Hugh Heffner, who controls the company and does whatever the hell he wants. Always has, always will.
Probably Chicago is actually getting too cold for this old geezer, who likes his pleasures. So, off to LA, where there are also plenty of nightspots and restaurants, and whatever else it takes to make Hugh happy. The girls will go with him.
It’s highly unlikely that Hefner himself has been to Chicago in decades. His ‘people’ travel to Holmby Hills to meet with him. His socializing is at the mansion, he doesn’t go to LA bars, restaurants, etc. It could be that he hasn’t left the mansion in decades. It’s his self-contained universe.