California Billionaire Tax Nears the November Ballot

A proposed California billionaire tax is one step closer to making the November ballot, according to backers of the controversial measure.

The healthcare labor union backing the proposal announced Monday that it submitted to election officials more than 1.5 million signatures supporting the measure, nearly twice as many as required.

If the secretary of state validates 850,000 signatures of registered California voters, the measure, called the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act, will appear on the November ballot.

Voters will then decide whether to impose a one-time, 5% tax on the assets of California’s roughly 200 billionaires, who would have the option to pay either in a lump sum or over five years.

At a press conference on Monday held by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, which represents more than 120,000 healthcare workers in California, the union’s chief of staff, Suzanne Jimenez, said that the measure “is really about solving a problem that is making sure hospitals, clinics, and ERs stay open.”

She added that the tax act is a direct response to the federal healthcare cuts in President Donald Trump’s H.R. 1 spending plan.

Most of the revenue from the tax would go toward funding Medi-Cal, with the remainder designated for public K-12 education and community college programs, including food support programs like CalFresh.

But opponents plan to submit a rival measure on Wednesday.

Called the Transparency Act of 2026, the measure is funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin. As it would require ongoing audits of programs funded by new state special taxes, the act is being framed as a check on wasteful state spending.

Notably, the measure includes a provision that directly conflicts with the billionaire tax and could nullify it. If both measures qualify for the November ballot and are passed by voters, the one with more votes will supersede the other.

The dueling measures set up an expensive clash over California’s economic future — pitting those who argue the state’s billionaire class could help shore up its safety net against others who warn that taxing them will drive them out of the state.

Pushing back on that argument, Jimenez said that billionaires built their wealth in California, and she’s confident they will stay.

“They’re able to figure out how to buy a yacht, how to buy their fifth house,” she said. “We believe that they can pay minimally 1% a year or a 5% lump sum.”

The measure has also exposed a rift among Democrats. Among the opposition are Gov. Gavin Newsom and San José Mayor Matt Mahan, who is running for governor, while Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders have voiced their support.

“A wealth tax in particular is fundamentally different from other taxes, and it has the highest unintended consequences,” Mahan said in a March interview with KQED’s Political Breakdown. “It will lead to middle-class people having to pay higher taxes in the long run.”