SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 27 (Our California Times) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he will vote no on a billionaire wealth-tax initiative that has qualified for the November ballot, and he urged Congress to create a national tax on the ultrawealthy instead.
In a June 26 Substack post and video, Newsom said the issue “belongs at the federal level, where this broken system was created in the first place.” He argued that billionaires can move money or residency to states such as Texas or Florida to avoid a state-level tax.
The initiative would impose a one-time 5% tax on Californians with assets above $1 billion, according to descriptions of the measure in news coverage and the ballot process. Newsom said a California-only tax would risk pushing wealth out of the state and damage the economy.
Newsom’s alternative calls for a federal minimum tax on Americans worth more than $100 million, changes to inheritance rules, tighter limits on borrowing against appreciated assets and higher corporate tax rates, according to his post.
He had already told The New York Times in January that he intended to stop the proposal and had been working behind the scenes against it.
