Wealth tax criticized by billionaires and Gavin Newsom would levy a one-time 5% tax on residents worth over $1bn

Wealth tax criticized by billionaires and Gavin Newsom would levy a one-time 5% tax on residents worth over $1bn

A popular proposal in California to impose a wealth tax on billionaires has gained enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in November, state officials announced on Wednesday.

The news is set to intensify an already heated debate around the tax, which has pitted tech moguls and the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, against the labor union backing the measure.

The California Billionaire Tax Act, colloquially known as the billionaire tax, would levy a one-time 5% tax on any California resident worth more than $1bn. The proposal is backed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) as a means of funding California’s strained healthcare, food assistance and education programs.

  • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
    16·
    1 day ago

    Even if it passes, it will be hung up in courts for years and never end up getting paid.

    It’s dumb to have a “one time tax fee” retroactive based on where you lived like a year ago. It should just be a yearly tax.

    • kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world
      8·
      1 day ago

      They want the payout but without losing the billionaires. If they make it retroactive and dont make it recurring, the billionaires have less incentive/urgency to leave. They’re already on the hook for the one time fee and it isn’t an immediate concern that it would happen again. I’m sure that is the logic they’re going with. Dunno if that will harm their case when this inevitably goes to court though.

      • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
        1·
        23 hours ago

        Nothing like the threat of “we’ve decided once again to take some money from you because you lived here before” to make them not up and move.

        Not that they’ll bother, because most won’t pay it.