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Tax the rich or defy the Left.
It’s funny…the only proposal that Kamala Harris made during her campaign that really resonated was increasing taxes on the wealthy…and she pulled it back after a few days. My guess is that people representing billionaires reached out to KH and said “That ain’t gonna fly.”
That’s the big challenge with the Left. They’ve swapped their souls to make billionaires even wealthier. A higher percentage of billionaires supported Biden and the Democrats than supported Trump and the Republicans.
The upshot? Newsom is against raising taxes on the wealthy. Frankly, he has to be, given his background and upbringing. His two best friends in high school were the grandsons of the Gettys (for whom his father worked) and Richard Blum (CEO of CBRE and husband to Dianne Feinstein). Newsom has been validated by and surrounded by wealth all his life, and he’s a wealthy man himself. He doesn’t want to do anything to derail the treasure train.
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I thought California was voting on a wealth tax this year? NYT just reported on it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/technology/california-wealth-tax-page-thiel.html?smid=url-share
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Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work) -
Right, that’s what I was referring to in the opening line of my last paragraph. There’s a tax proposed on the 200 Californians with fortunes of over $1 billion, a supposedly one-time, temporary 5% tax on their net worth over $1 billion with an option to spread the payments over five years (but paying interest if the billionaire in question spreads it out). Real Estate, pensions and retirement accounts are excluded from the wealth calculation. The fund would be aimed at health care spending (90%) with a smaller amount to K-12 education and SNAP funding (10%).
A Texas law firm is weighing in on the eight separate legal challenges that Billionaires would likely make against the act:
- Dormant Commerce. All new taxes must be applied to an activity substantially within the nexus state, must be fairly apportioned, must be nondiscriminatory against interstate commerce and be fairly related to the services the state provides. Worldwide assets and generated wealth would be subject to the tax.
- Retroactivity. You can’t tax people who were residents of CA retroactively, per Due Process clauses in both U. S. and CA constitutions.
- Bill of Attainder. U.S. Constitution forbids states from enacting laws that single out specific individuals or groups and imposes punishment.
- Equal Protection Clause in both CA and US Constitutions, argues that a wealth tax discriminates between ultra-wealthy and everyone else.
- 0.04% Tax Cap. Under CA Constitution, property tax cannot exceed 0.04% of the value on a variety of isntruments, which is why the bill’s proponents are referring to it as an excise tax, not a wealth tax.
- Uniformity. Under CA Constitution, all property taxes must be assessed at the same percentage of fair market value.
- Right to Travel. Can’t levy taxes on people who have left the state and are no longer residents.
- Takings Clause. The state and Fed govt’ can’t take private property without providing just compensation.
California 2026 Billionaire Tax Act | Thought Leadership | Baker Botts
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