billionaire tax<\/a>, marking a rare divergence from the California Democratic Party, which endorsed the November ballot measure.\u00a0<\/p>\nProposition 40 has emerged as a lightning rod among Democrats, with the state party narrowly voting to endorse it while prominent moderate Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, have come out against it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s vote came shortly after the majority-moderate San Francisco Democratic Party changed its bylaws earlier this summer to allow the local party to go against the state Democratic Party\u2019s endorsements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Supporters have said Proposition 40 would provide a much-needed injection of cash to California\u2019s healthcare system at a time when federal cuts to Medicare have impacted residents across the state and city of San Francisco.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/021826-Billionaires-Tax-GETTY-CM-01.jpeg\")
Signs reading \u201cA Billionaire Tax Now\u201d rest on chairs at a Billionaire Tax Now rally where Sen. Bernie Sanders is set to speak in Los Angeles on Feb. 18, 2026. \u00a0(Jason Armond\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
But opponents say it\u2019s a misguided effort to tax the wealthy and could result in billionaires fleeing to other states.<\/p>\n
\u201cPassing a billionaire tax in California is not a long-term viable solution to providing affordable healthcare,\u201d member Lanier Coles said. \u201cWe need federal tax reform to address the growing inequities and concentration of wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n
One member in the audience fired back: \u201cThat\u2019s why you lost to Trump twice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 17-4 vote fell along moderate-progressive lines. The measure would create a one-time 5% tax on Californians with a net worth that exceeds $1 billion who lived in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026. The tax could generate about $100 billion and would be paid by roughly 200 billionaires, according to the campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking families who are barely holding on here in San Francisco and across the state are paying their taxes,\u201d San Francisco Democratic Party member Peter Gallotta said. \u201cBillionaires making ungodly sums of money with more than they can spend in their lifetimes can afford to contribute more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Progressive members slammed their moderate colleagues for playing defense for billionaires, including powerful tech donors who have helped elect members of the local Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RS59360_IMG_5938-qut.jpg\")
Former San Francisco Supervisor Gordon Mar, representing District 4, at a rally supporting the creation of a statewide union of Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other gig workers on Oct. 12, 2022.\u00a0(Farida Jhabvala Romero\/KQED)<\/p>\n
A no vote on Proposition 40 \u201cwould reinforce the public perception that our local Democratic Party is more responsive to the billionaire interest who spent heavily to elect the current majority than healthcare workers and working families,\u201d former Supervisor Gordon Mar said. \u201cThe federal healthcare cuts facing California are not minor \u2026 Prop. 40 is the only proposal before voters and on the table more generally that approaches the scale of this crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Francisco Democratic Party members Emma Hare and Eric Kingsbury put forward a resolution calling for a national wealth tax, which Newsom has also proposed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerican government increasingly answers to an oligarchy of a few hundred households rather than to the more than three hundred million Americans it exists to serve,\u201d reads the resolution, co-sponsored by Supervisor Matt Dorsey and party member Joe Sangirardi.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf wealthy people know how to do anything really well, it\u2019s to get through loopholes, and I think this measure has a lot of loopholes,\u201d Hare said. \u201cI think we can do better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The state\u2019s Democratic leaders are also divided on Proposition 40, with Gov. Gavin Newsom and gubernatorial candidate Xavier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-445371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445371","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=445371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Prop40BillionairesTaxGetty.jpg\")
<\/p>\n