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After months of campaigning for a first-of-its-kind retroactive wealth tax in California, the union-led effort is now taking its next step.
The Service Employees International Union–United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) said it has collected more than 1.55 million signatures, according to a press release, nearly double the 875,000-signature requirement — to put a one-time tax on billionaire assets on the California ballot.
The California Billionaire Tax Act would target the net worth of roughly 200 residents and would impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of California residents with assets exceeding $1 billion. The tax would be due in 2027, and taxpayers could spread payments over five years, with interest, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
If the measure is approved by voters in November, anyone who was a California resident on Jan. 1, 2026, would owe the tax, according to the proposal. In practical terms, a resident with $20 billion in net worth on that date would owe a one-time tax of $1 billion, payable over five years.
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Supporters argue the tax is a direct response to “cuts to Medicaid and other federal health insurance programs by the Trump administration last year.”
“Most Californians and most billionaires recognize how reasonable and necessary this proposal is — both to keep emergency rooms open and to save California businesses from closing,” SEIU-UHW chief of staff Suzanne Jimenez said in a press release.
“A very small group of the most controversial billionaires on the planet tried to stop Californians from being able to save their local emergency rooms and hospitals — but our current signature tally proves frontline healthcare workers will prevail in bringing this commonsense proposal to voters,” she continued. “When our growing coalition files these signatures, David will have won the first round against Goliath, but healthcare workers and our allies won’t quit until we fully protect our patients from the looming healthcare disaster that will be caused by $100 billion in cuts to California healthcare.”
The SEIU-UHW did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Opponents of the measure have warned the tax could kill an estimated 108,000 high-paying jobs over the next 20 years, The New York Times reported Sunday. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom even acknowledged that the state’s proposed wealth tax is bad economics, previously saying he feels vindicated in opposing the proposal after reports showed some of California’s wealthiest residents moving money and businesses out of the state, warning the measure would damage the economy and drive away investment.
While the Legislative Analyst’s Office predicts a temporary surge in cash, it warned of an “ongoing decrease in state income tax revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars or more annually” as billionaires flee the state in response.
Some of those public figures who moved their residencies or businesses out of California before the Jan. 1 retroactive tax deadline include Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Steven Spielberg, Uber’s Travis Kalanick and car loan magnate Don Hankey.
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