Campaigners behind the one-time 5% billionaires wealth tax in California are calling out what they describe as trickery and deception by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who on Friday released a proposal for a national billionaire’s income tax even as he actively opposes the effort to tax the wealth of billionaires in the state that he and his party currently control.
“Newsom does not want to tax billionaires,” said the Billionaire Tax Now campaign in a statement, “but he wants you to think he does.”
As Common Dreams reported Friday, critics of Newsom warn that the governor thinks “he can fool everyone” with his proposal for a national tax on the income of billionaires while simultaneously opposing a wealth tax headed for a referendum vote in November designed to fill a massive healthcare funding gap in the state created by the budget bill passed by Republicans and signed by President Donald Trump last year.
It just makes more sense to establish a billionaire Tax at national Level.
Moving across States ie one thing, moving across national borders another.
Well two things, 1) It doesn’t matter if they move now. The tax is a one time tax on anyone who was a billionaire living in California in 2025. Moving now does not remove your liability. They will still impose the tax on you even if you’re in, say, Texas now. 2) It is far far far more simple and likely to pass such a tax in the California legislature than in the US Senate and House right now. It would certainly be better to do at a federal level, but they won’t. So then doing it at the state level where you can is better than nothing.
Fair Points👍