California’s billionaire tax campaigners vowed Thursday to move forward with their November ballot measure despite growing opposition from the state’s most powerful political establishment.
The labor union has spent $31 million collecting signatures to qualify for the ballot in an effort to reduce health care funding cuts that will affect millions of California’s most vulnerable citizens. A campaign representative supporting the ballot measure has pushed back against the effort as wealthy independent Californians and entrenched Sacramento interests.
“Although a few unscrupulous billionaires and their cronies in Sacramento want to see California hospitals closed, and the billionaire tax break protected – I assure you, the majority of voters do not,” said Debru Carthan, spokesperson for the Billionaire Tax Now Coalition, sponsored by the Service Employees the Worker’s International Union-United proposal the Workcare Union.
The California secretary of state is expected to officially certify the measure on the November 3 ballot Thursday evening.
Carthan said their effort is supported in public opinion polls, and by law enforcement officials, unions, civil society organizations and volunteers across the country, “something billionaires and their associates will never have.”
However, a coalition of health care, education, social security, housing, business and labor leaders opposed to the proposal warned that it would make the notoriously volatile federal budget more unpredictable.
“A dangerous wealth tax directly threatens critical funding for education and schools, health care and clinics, public safety, and infrastructure projects by further straining California’s finances,” leaders of the California Medical Assn., California Primary Care Assn. and the California School Boards Assn. said the statement. “That’s why so many leaders – Democrats and Republicans – are joining us and saying NO. We look forward to making sure voters have the facts, they know the issues, and we strongly reject this reckless testing in November.”
Supporters of the proposed one-time 5% tax on the wealth of the state’s wealthiest citizens have pitched the effort as a way to close the loophole to end the devastating health care funding cuts passed by the GOP-led Congress and signed by President Trump nearly a year ago. The federal law is expected to result in $100 billion in cuts that would affect California’s most vulnerable residents.
The proposed tax, which would kick in again on billionaires living in the state starting Jan. 1, met with predictable opposition from the wealthy, especially Silicon Valley tech leaders.
But it sharply divided the liberals. Although Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) supported this proposal, Gov. Gavin Newsom was among the Democrats who opposed it out of fear of the potential impact on the state’s faltering budget.
Despite being the fourth largest economy in the world – home to Hollywood and Silicon Valley – California’s budget is heavily dependent on the state’s most successful residents.
Newsom and others who generally support higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans also argued that the proposed billionaire tax in California was poorly designed and that any such taxes should be implemented nationally, because different state policies would not work.
Opponents also say that the political priorities for the 2026 midterm elections should focus more on efforts to ensure that Democrats regain control of Congress to act as a balance during Trump’s final two years.
“It’s disappointing. This is a critical election when we need to focus on turning the house around and repairing the damage done” by Trump’s legislation that led to health care funding cuts, said Jodi Hicks, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. The wealth tax is “temporary and doesn’t solve what’s a long-term problem. And I’m not even sure the policy is an effective solution. It’s very important to send the right message — to hold Congress accountable and how we need to find long-term solutions to make sure Californians have access to health care.”
Rob Lapsley, co-chair of Californians Against Tax Increases and president of the California Business Roundtable, argued that the proposed wealth tax will ultimately affect every Californian.
“Take away the spin, and this measure forces all California taxpayers, not just billionaires, to file an affidavit of their value with the Franchise Tax Board under penalty of perjury,” Lapsley said in a statement. “It also gives the Legislature the power to extend the wealth tax to all Californians and all types of property, including home equity, retirement savings without going back to voters – effectively cutting” voter-approved rates on property tax increases.
Proponents of the tax submitted nearly 1.6 million signatures in April to qualify the proposal for the ballot, nearly double the amount needed. However, support for the effort has grown shaky. Newsom’s team created a broad coalition of opponents, including health and education activists, who undermined the tax’s basic argument.
The union behind the proposal responded last week by proposing an alternative law that would create a 2% tax on billionaires’ assets. It was flatly rejected by the Newsom administration. No agreement was reached by Thursday evening’s deadline for the union to withdraw its bid for the November election.
Two initiatives designed to sink the proposed billionaire tax — called poison pills — have also qualified for the Nov. 3 ballot, according to the California Secretary of State’s office. One would prohibit new state taxes on personal property, while the other would prohibit any new taxes that could be levied on existing state tax laws and assessed regularly. If a bill’s tax proposal is approved by voters but one of these proposals receives more votes, the tax measure will be closed.
The proposed multibillion-dollar tax would apply to more than 200 Californians, some of whom have left the state or moved their companies out of California because of the proposal.
The prospect of the wealthy fleeing the state is one of the reasons why prominent Democrats like Newsom oppose it, given that California’s budget relies heavily on wealthy residents.
Sergey Brin, the founder of Google, is among the billionaires who have reportedly left California because of the tax proposal. He has donated at least $82 million to an organization that is funding efforts to end the proposed multibillion dollar tax.
Proponents of the ballot measures had a deadline of Thursday evening to withdraw their proposals.
Other policy proposals to appear in Nov. 3 votes include:
- It requires government-issued voter identification to vote in elections.
- Reforming California’s Environmental Quality Act, which was once the third rail of Democratic politics has been heavily scrutinized in reconstruction after the Palisades and Eaton fires.
- Creating an $11.3-billion affordable housing bond.
Two notable proposals were withdrawn from the vote after discussions between the California Hospital Assn. and trade unions:
- An attempt to reduce the compensation of health care managers.
- A similar union proposal supports a billion dollar tax that would require most health care clinics to use 90% of their revenue to serve low-income and underemployed residents.
