California Governor Gavin Newsom called for a national billionaires tax on Friday, May 19, 2026, while opposing a similar ballot measure targeting the ultra-wealthy in his home state. Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, published his proposal on Substack the day after California officials certified the California Billionaire Tax Act, which would levy a one-time 5% tax on residents worth over $1 billion.
State-Level Tax Faced Opposition
The California Billionaire Tax Act, brought by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), would fund healthcare, education, and food assistance programs. It has garnered over 1.55 million signatures but faced intense pushback from the state's richest residents and several prominent labor unions. Newsom strongly opposes the measure, arguing it will hurt the state's economy. In his Substack post, he wrote, "I understand the anxiety driving the wealth tax proposal in California. But I'm voting no because this measure dedicates almost all of the revenue it raises to a single category of state spending."
Critique of State-Level Approach
Newsom argued that a state-level billionaire tax would be easily dodged by wealthy individuals who can move assets to other states. He noted that billionaires like Google co-founder Larry Page have threatened to leave California or cut ties with the state. "You may not be able to pick up and move to Texas or Florida to shelter your income from taxation, but I promise you that billionaires can, and do," Newsom wrote. "Wealth is movable, and it shops for the state with the lowest taxes. The fight belongs at the federal level, where this broken system was created in the first place."
National Counterproposal Details
Newsom proposed a national tax policy including a minimum tax on anyone with a net worth above $100 million. He also wants to make it illegal for the wealthy to borrow against stock portfolios to fund tax-free lifestyles. Additionally, he suggested the US government should own a stake in artificial intelligence companies, a policy advocated by Senator Bernie Sanders. Newsom called for new inheritance tax rules to prevent "a permanent American aristocracy of inherited wealth" and wants to raise corporate tax rates to pre-Trump levels.
AI and Economic Reset
Newsom emphasized the urgency as AI threatens to displace workers and concentrate wealth. "We need to ensure every American owns a stake in the future being built by AI through a national public equity fund that takes a major stake in the new economy," he wrote. Revenue from his proposals could fund worker retraining, universal childcare, free college, and increased healthcare funding. Newsom argued that changes are needed to prevent elite concentration of wealth from undermining democracy, stating, "It's time for an economic reset for America."
Political Context
Newsom, a high-profile antagonist of Donald Trump, is laying out policy frameworks months before the midterm elections, which typically mark the informal start of presidential campaigning. His embrace of a wealth tax signals a shift from the 2020 campaign of Senator Elizabeth Warren, who struggled with a similar 2% wealth tax. Newsom portrayed the tax code as corrupt, writing, "Money buys influence, and influence rewrites the rules. Those rewritten rules funnel even more wealth to the few. Under this weight, democracy itself starts to buckle."
