Brian Brokaw, a longtime Newsom adviser who leads Stop the Squeeze, a group opposing the tax, told ABC News that the measure could financially devastate the state.<\/p>\n
![\"Patrick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/496f559507b3e422148b14a892b21acd.jpeg\"\/)
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Patrick T. Fallon\/AFP via Getty Images – PHOTO: US-POLITICS-BILLIONAIRE-TAXATION<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re not just talking about individual billionaires. You’re talking about an entire economy that is the backbone of California’s economic engine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The tax was introduced in response to steep cuts to California\u2019s healthcare funding that resulted from the passage of the President Donald Trump’s \u201cBig Beautiful Bill.\u201d According to SEIU-UHW, the tax would generate around $100 billion over five years, funneling 90% of those revenues toward the healthcare sector.<\/p>\n
Suzanne Jimenez, chief of staff at SEIU-UHW and one of the architects of the measure, warned of a \u201ccomplete collapse\u201d of the healthcare system in California if funding shortfalls go unaddressed.<\/p>\n
SEIU-UHW, along with its associated political groups, has contributed more than $31 million to a proxy called Save California Healthcare and Public Education Committee to support the initiative.<\/p>\n
The most well-resourced organization opposing the measure is Building a Better California, which supports committees promoting two competing ballot initiatives that purport to improve government transparency and to protect retirement savings from taxes, respectively. If either of those ballot initiatives receives more votes than the billionaire tax measure, the group will negate it.<\/p>\n
Building a Better California has raised more $118 million from 10 donors. More than half of that money comes from Google co-founder Sergey Brin.<\/p>\n
The campaigns for both competing ballot measures have received around $48 million and $49 million, respectively, in contributions since February, almost all from Building a Better California. Although the group\u2019s opposition to the billionaire tax is\u00a0widely reported<\/a>, representatives from Building a Better California and the campaigns it supports do not comment on the measure directly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are solely focused on passing our measure,\u201d a spokesperson for the group promoting the retirement savings initiative told ABC News.<\/p>\n Shana Kushner Gadarian, a professor at Syracuse University who studies political psychology, thinks the alternative ballot measures may have been crafted to oppose the tax without appearing to support billionaires over healthcare workers.<\/p>\n \u201cMy guess would be that the strategy is to just avoid the whole question of the billionaire tax \u2026 to be for something rather than against something,\u201d Gadarian told ABC News.<\/p>\n Carlos Barria\/Reuters – PHOTO: Debate in the race for governor of California, hosted by the San Francisco Examiner and CBS, in San Francisco<\/p>\n About 250 billionaires would be taxed under the measure. An\u00a0analysis<\/a>\u00a0from the state\u2019s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office says it is hard to predict how much revenue the tax would yield.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is likely that some billionaires decide to leave California,\u201d the report says. \u201cThe reduction in state revenues from these kinds of responses could be hundreds of millions of dollars or more per year.\u201d<\/p>\n Scholars are divided as to what the impact of the tax will actually look like, however. A\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0from the University of Missouri School of Law suggests that threats by billionaires to relocate may be strategic posturing.<\/p>\n Jimenez agrees.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it’s kind of the same scare tactic we see time and time again around any kind of campaign that is about investing in public services,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n![\"Carlos](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/63f626d187a6f7bd112a52e43aeaeaec.jpeg\"\/)
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