{"id":176576,"date":"2026-02-13T14:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T14:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/176576\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T14:16:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T14:16:07","slug":"letters-wealth-taxes-havent-driven-away-california-billionaires-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/176576\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters: Wealth taxes haven’t driven away California billionaires yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 13, 2026 6 AM PT <\/p>\n

To the editor: It\u2019s time to call the billionaires\u2019 bluff once and for all (\u201cKnives are out for California\u2019s golden goose,\u201d<\/a> Feb. 9).<\/p>\n

California\u2019s roughly 200 billionaires had until Jan. 1, 2026, to change their official state of residence in order to be ineligible for the proposed wealth tax that aims to prevent hospital and emergency room closures across the state. There is no evidence to contradict the fact that the vast majority of billionaires have remained in California.<\/p>\n

Also, George Skelton\u2019s math just isn\u2019t mathing. The state can raise $100 billion to keep hospitals and ERs open, or it could, potentially, risk hundreds of tens of millions of dollars. Those numbers aren\u2019t even in the same stratosphere. Nobody in their right mind would refuse $1 million if they might have to pay $1,000 after they receive it.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, credible academic and economist-driven research<\/a> shows that wealth taxes do not drive the ultra-wealthy to relocate en masse.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Massachusetts and Washington state enacted higher taxes on high-income earners and capital gains. Both states now have more high-income residents<\/a> with more cumulative wealth than before.<\/p>\n

Skleton\u2019s column is just plain wrong. It\u2019s time to stop the sensationalist attacks and start focusing on what matters: keeping California\u2019s hospitals and ERs open.<\/p>\n

Ren\u00e9e Salda\u00f1a, Los Angeles
This writer is press secretary at SEIU-UHW, lead sponsor of the California billionaire tax ballot measure. <\/p>\n

..<\/p>\n

To the editor: As a healthcare worker, I see the cracks in California\u2019s healthcare system widening: longer waits, fewer staff and hospitals running on fumes. When federal healthcare cuts hit, the system won\u2019t bend; it\u2019ll break.<\/p>\n

The California Billionaire Tax Act is a lifeline. It would keep hospitals open and make sure patients aren\u2019t turned away. Calling that \u201cbad PR\u201d misses the point \u2014 this is about saving lives, not soaking the rich.<\/p>\n

Healthcare workers aren\u2019t the villains here. We\u2019re trying to keep hospitals and ERs open for every Californian who might need care, including billionaires and their families.<\/p>\n

Andres Gonzalez, Maywood<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 13, 2026 6 AM PT To the editor: It\u2019s time to call the billionaires\u2019 bluff once and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,68863,9,8,2072,17160,24013,82671,84050,1583,1838,63,8189,84048,315,19870,84049],"class_list":["post-176576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-billionaire","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-editor","tag-er","tag-healthcare-system","tag-healthcare-worker","tag-high-income-earner","tag-hospital","tag-letter","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-million","tag-official-state","tag-time","tag-wealth-tax","tag-wealth-taxis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}