SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 27 (Our California Times) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday he will vote no on a billionaire wealth-tax measure that has qualified for the November ballot, while urging a national tax on billionaires instead.
In a Substack post and video, Newsom said the issue “belongs at the federal level” and argued that billionaires can move money or residency to states such as Texas and Florida to avoid a state levy. He described the tax system as broken and said it needs an “economic reset.”
The California measure would impose a one-time 5% tax on people with net worth above $1 billion. The initiative was advanced by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare West and has been cleared to go before voters in November.
Newsom’s alternative would create a federal minimum tax on Americans worth more than $100 million, close loopholes tied to borrowing against appreciated assets, update inheritance rules and raise corporate tax rates toward pre-2017 levels.
