On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing the proposed California Billionaire Tax, which has qualified for the November ballot.
The measure, which would impose a one-time five percent tax on the roughly 200 billionaires living in California, would generate an estimated $100 billion for the state, with 90 percent reserved for healthcare and 10 percent for education and food assistance programs.
The measure is facing extreme pushback from Governor Gavin Newsom and billionaires like Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who have already spent over $100M on groups opposing the measure. This is going to be a very expensive fight.
According to reports, in an attempt to avoid that, the SEIU-UHW has agreed to pull the measure if Governor Newsom will support a bill that would impose a two percent tax on billionaires. So far, the governor declined. The deadline to pull the measure is Thursday.
What questions do you have about the measure's details and the politics behind it?
Guests:
David Sirota, award-winning journalist, bestselling author, and founder and editor of The Lever, a reader-supported investigative news outlet
Darien Shanske, professor of law at the UC Davis School of Law who helped write California’s Billionaire Tax Act
Brian Galle, professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law who helped write California’s Billionaire Tax Act
Resources:
CalMatters: A tax on billionaires qualified for the November ballot. 5 things to know about the measure
The New York Times: Opinion – The Case for California’s Billionaire Wealth Tax
The New York Times: Unlikely Coalition Begins Campaign Against Billionaire Tax in California
The Guardian: California ‘billionaire tax’ makes ballot despite opposition from tech moguls
The Lever: Why Is Newsom Fighting California’s Billionaire Tax?
UC Berkeley: California Billionaires: Wealth, Taxes, and Wealth Tax Revenue Estimates
SSRN: Expert Report On The California 2026 Billionaire Tax: Revenue, Economic, and Constitutional Analysis
SSRN: Correcting the Record: Responding to Some Legal Arguments About the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act
SSRN: Response to "The Net Present Value of the Billionaire Tax Act" March 4, 2026
