By
Ed Kilgore,
political columnist for Intelligencer since 2015
Wealth taxes aimed at the very rich are a perennial favorite on the progressive end of the ideological spectrum. A really big one that carries immense political implications has just been certified for the November ballot in California, a state famous for its left-leaning electorate but also its sizable class of billionaires.
The proposed measure comes via a citizens petition and is mainly sponsored by SEIU-UHW, the union representing about 120,000 California health-care workers. It would impose a onetime 5 percent tax on the worldwide net worth of individuals with over a billion dollars in wealth as of January 1 of this year — about 200 people. The proceeds (an estimated $100 billion) would be earmarked for health-care benefits facing steep budget cuts thanks to last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act and associated Trump administration measures to reduce or shift costs in federal-state programs. Though it’s not explicit, a big part of the appeal for the billionaire tax is to force those benefiting most from Trump’s tax and budget policies (plus the Silicon Valley magnates who have shifted in his direction politically) to compensate those whom the same policies have damaged. In a deep-blue state like this one, you’d think this might be a proposition that wins along predictable party-affiliation lines.
