SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 27 (Our California Times) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he will vote no on a billionaire wealth-tax ballot measure that has qualified for the November ballot, even as he called for a national tax on billionaires instead.
In a Substack post and video, Newsom said the issue “belongs at the federal level, where this broken system was created in the first place.” He proposed a federal minimum tax on Americans worth more than $100 million, along with changes to inheritance rules, limits on borrowing against appreciated assets and higher corporate tax rates.
Newsom also argued that billionaires can move to states such as Texas and Florida to avoid a state tax. He said wealth is movable and “shops for the state with the lowest taxes.”
The California measure, backed by Service Employees International Union–United Healthcare West, would impose a one-time 5% tax on Californians with assets above $1 billion. Newsom told The New York Times in January that he intended to stop the initiative.
