{"id":381481,"date":"2026-07-01T01:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T01:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/381481\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T01:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T01:05:08","slug":"newsom-signs-off-on-100-california-tax-for-money-from-trumps-1-8-billion-slush-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/381481\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsom signs off on 100% California tax for money from Trump’s $1.8-billion ‘slush fund’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed off on a 100% state tax on money any Californians receive from Trump\u2019s $1.8-billion \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund for his political allies.<\/p>\n

Newsom unveiled his proposal<\/a> in May, after Trump\u2019s Justice Department said it would create a fund to compensate Trump\u2019s allies who claim they have \u201csuffered weaponization and lawfare\u201d under Biden\u2019s Justice Department. <\/p>\n

The settlement fund was criticized by politicians on both sides of the aisle, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who described it as a \u201cslush fund to pay people who assault cops.\u201d <\/p>\n

The fund remains in legal limbo. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Virginia extended<\/a> a court-ordered block on the plan, which critics warned could be used to pay pardoned Jan. 6 rioters. <\/p>\n

Fast-tracked into law as part of Senate Bill 122<\/a>, Newsom\u2019s plan imposes \u201ca tax on any settlement fund payment from the federal Anti-Weaponization Fund, or any subsequent fund, settlement, or agreement, as provided, at a rate of 100%,\u201d according to the bill text. The tax applies to all tax years between 2026 and 2030. <\/p>\n

Newsom signed the bill Tuesday. In a statement, his office said the tax is meant to ensure that, should Trump\u2019s fund proceed, California recipients won\u2019t \u201creceive favorable state treatment on those payments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe democracy is worth defending, the rule of law matters, and public dollars should support victims\u2014not those who attacked the very institutions that protect our freedoms,\u201d Newsom said in the statement. <\/p>\n

University of Southern California law professor Ariel Jurow Kleiman, an expert on tax law and policy, said that while Newsom\u2019s tax is a \u201cnovel legal strategy,\u201d she believes there is \u201cno categorical legal restriction\u201d preventing California from implementing it. <\/p>\n

States have a \u201cwide degree of discretion\u201d to design their tax systems \u2014 including how they define income \u2014 so long as they do not violate their constitutions, Jurow Kleiman said. <\/p>\n

If a California resident wanted to challenge the tax in court, they would need to show they were harmed by it to have standing to sue, according to Jurow Kleiman. That would mean receiving a payment from Trump\u2019s settlement fund and then paying the 100% California tax. Unless the settlement fund is established and distributes payments, that scenario is unlikely.<\/p>\n

While there have been proposals to levy a 100% tax on income above certain thresholds \u2014 Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 2023 said he supports<\/a> a 100% tax on income exceeding $1 billion \u2014 Jurow Kleiman said she is not aware of any governments that have adopted such a policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed off on a 100% state tax on money any Californians receive from Trump\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[154170,7,9,8,13879,154172,4515,721,4263,3290,37464,3230,154171,95465,138481,3025,1747,1519],"class_list":["post-381481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california-tax","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-income","tag-jurow-kleiman","tag-justice-department","tag-law","tag-money","tag-newsom","tag-payment","tag-plan","tag-political-ally","tag-settlement-fund","tag-slush-fund","tag-statement","tag-tax","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381481","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=381481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}