California could become the first State in the nation to tax the net worth of billionaires , it was proposed on Tuesday (November 3. 2026) under a ballot measure that has divided liberal leaders nationally and triggered one of the most expensive ballot fights in the State’s history as the ultra-rich scramble to figure out whether they would pay the tax or flee.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has framed the proposal as a monumental step toward reining in deep wealth inequality by ensuring the ultra-rich pay their fair share. But Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom warns it would prompt the State’s wealthiest to move out of California and take their tax money with them. Billionaires are already bracing for its approval. Some of them, including Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, started cutting ties with the State after the measure was unveiled. But some traditional Democratic allies, including Planned Parenthood and the California Teachers Association, are part of a coalition opposing it. They’re concerned about how the tax revenue would be divvied up and about the potential impact on the State’s budget if there’s a mass exodus of wealthy taxpayers. California’s budget relies heavily on the income tax of the State’s richest residents.
The “no” side has raised roughly 10 times as much as the “yes” side, thanks in large part to tech moguls and venture capitalists, who have poured millions into a political action committee fighting the measure. Mark Zuckerberg said he would stay in California for eight years and made a deal with Meta that would help him pay the tax without losing his ownership stake in the company. “It’s time to collect those taxes so we can ensure that our healthcare system is still safe,” said Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions.
That’s an apparent shift from a PPIC survey conducted in early September, when 52% of likely voters said they’d vote for the tax and 46% said they’d vote against it.
Likely voters were slightly more likely to oppose the measure than support it in a poll conducted in mid-October by the Public Policy Institute of California, with 52% saying they would vote “no” and 46% saying they would vote “yes.
“But I don’t believe taxing them out of existence is going to work. Days before Mr. Sanders held rallies in California cities last month urging voters to support the State measure, Mr.
Robert Swonger, an auto glass technician living near Sacramento who’s politically independent, said he planned to vote against it. “Obviously, I would like billionaires not to have as much money as they do,” he said. Newsom told reporters that the Senator’s focus on wealth inequality was “spot-on. But he said that “on this issue, we fundamentally disagree.”
