Senator Bernie Sanders kicked off the campaign for a proposed one-time tax on California\u2019s billionaires on Wednesday night, framing the measure as part of a larger rise against wealth inequality at The Wiltern in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarting right here in California, these billionaires are going to learn that we are still living in a democratic society where the people have some power,\u201d Sanders said. <\/p>\n
The senator joined L.A. healthcare and labor unions to endorse a 5% emergency tax on about 200 California residents who are worth more than $1 billion.<\/p>\n
The proposed bill<\/a> would direct 90% of funds to California\u2019s healthcare system, which took a hit after federal spending cuts, to stabilize premiums, fund healthcare coverage and keep hospital emergency rooms, clinics and nursing rooms open and staffed. Additional remaining funds would go toward public K-14 education and state food assistance programs.<\/p>\n \u201cHealthcare is not just a budget line item. It is the difference between stability and the collapse for millions of families,\u201d said Nidal Rafeedie, vice president of Teamsters Local 1932<\/a> and director of respiratory care at a San Bernardino medical center. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen what happens when systems collapse, whether it\u2019s from virus, war or billionaires in America. The last thing we need is to destabilize Medicare or Medi-cal and risk other preventable crises,\u201d Rafeedie said.<\/p>\n Last July, President Trump signed the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act<\/a>, a budget reconciliation bill focused on cutting federal income taxes, like those on tips and overtime pay, and reducing funding for some social welfare programs, including Medicaid.<\/p>\n The bill\u2019s impact on healthcare is severe. According to the Center for American Progress, federal spending on Medicaid is estimated to reduce by around $1 trillion through 2034<\/a>.<\/p>\n In California, up to 3.4 million state residents<\/a> could lose their Medi-cal coverage, based on a fact sheet from the California Budget and Policy Center.<\/p>\n As a respiratory therapist, Rafeedie said the implications of the bill could mean \u201cmore patients delaying treatment until they are critically ill, more emergency room visits, and hospitals absorbing billions in uncompensated care for the uninsured, an estimated 9.5 billion increase over 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n For some, access to affordable healthcare is a personal issue. Lisandro Presa, a member of the UNITE HERE Local 11 labor union<\/a>, said that as someone living with AIDS, the recent loss of his medical coverage has put his health in danger.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout my health coverage, the thought of going to the emergency room is terrifying,\u201d Pressa said, \u201cThe injection I rely on costs nearly $10,000 a month. That shot keeps my disease under control. Without it, my health, my life, are at risk. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd I\u2019m not alone.\u201d Pressa added. \u201cMillions of Americans are facing the same after massive federal healthcare cuts are putting our hospitals on the brink of collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t let the billionaires get away with destroying our hospitals, our clinics, with their greed,\u201d Pressa said before leading the crowd in a chant: \u201cSi se puede.\u201d<\/p>\n Though the crowd in The Wiltern vocally supported the proposal with chants to \u201ctax the billionaires,\u201d California\u2019s wealthy residents and conservatives are working to place three other tax measures on the ballot this November. <\/p>\n A ballot measure committee has already raised $35 million<\/a>, with the financial backing of Google co-founder Sergey Brin and other tech titans, Politico reported.<\/p>\n Among opponents to the bill is California Governor Gavin Newsom, who said in a New York Times<\/a> article that he fears Silicon Valley titans and billionaires, such as Google co-founders Larry Page and Brin, will move away from the state.<\/p>\n Sanders acknowledged that billionaires have threatened to close their businesses and leave California if the tax passes, but he noted that \u201cwhen Mamdani was running in New York City, they didn\u2019t, and I doubt that they will flee the great state of California.\u201d <\/p>\n The night, however, was about more than this one-time billionaire tax. A performance by Grammy-winning guitarist and political activist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine echoed a message of unity and resistance. <\/p>\n A union member himself, Morello sang \u201cHold the Line,\u201d as the front row of the theater linked arms and formed a line.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery act of art is an act of resistance,\u201d Morello said. <\/p>\n He led the crowd in singing Woody Guthrie\u2019s \u201cThis Land is Your Land,\u201d with the stage lights shining and the audience clapping along.<\/p>\n \u201cWoody knew that this land was not made for the billionaires and the oligarchs,\u201d said Morello, \u201cWoody knew that this land was made for you and me.\u201d<\/p>\n The concentration of wealth in the U.S. is stark. According to data from the Federal Reserve<\/a>, the top 1% of households owned 31.7% of the country\u2019s wealth in the third quarter of 2025, now the highest share on record. Meanwhile the bottom 50% of the population collectively held 2.5% of household wealth.<\/p>\n \u201cFor these people, enough is never enough,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are dedicated to accumulating more and more wealth and power, and they do that no matter what harm they bring to working families, to our children and to our parents \u2014 no matter how many low-income and working-class people will die because they no longer have health insurance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Before Wednesday night\u2019s \u201cBillionaire Tax Now<\/a>\u201d event, California\u2019s healthcare workers and union members began organizing. Now in its fourth week, more than 31,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers<\/a> are striking statewide and in Hawaii demanding higher wages and better staffing. <\/p>\n Though the proposed billionaire tax has yet to reach the 900,000 signatures necessary to be placed on the ballot this election season, the proposal is backed by powerful labor organizations, including the Service Employees International Union.<\/p>\n At the end of his speech, Sanders recalled the protests that erupted in Minnesota following ICE raids and the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Minnesota showed is that when people get organized, and have courage and stand together they can win struggles,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was Minnesota standing up to authoritarianism and now the ball is in California\u2019s court. When we stand together, we can take on the oligarchs and the billionaires,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senator Bernie Sanders kicked off the campaign for a proposed one-time tax on California\u2019s billionaires on Wednesday night,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[36944,87783,457,48,52,51,87785,87787,47,50,49,3011,4012,87786,36511,85655,87784],"class_list":{"0":"post-186383","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-bernie-sanders","9":"tag-billionaire-tax-now","10":"tag-gavin-newsom","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-headlines","13":"tag-la-news","14":"tag-la-unions","15":"tag-lisandro-presa","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","18":"tag-los-angeles-news","19":"tag-medical","20":"tag-one-big-beautiful-bill","21":"tag-rafeedie","22":"tag-sergey-brin","23":"tag-the-wiltern","24":"tag-vermont-senator"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186383","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=186383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}