{"id":469213,"date":"2026-09-19T17:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T17:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469213\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T17:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T17:10:13","slug":"billionaires-shouldnt-exist-why-california-unions-are-fighting-for-a-wealth-tax-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469213\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Billionaires shouldn’t exist.’ Why California unions are fighting for a wealth tax"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article<\/a> was produced by Capital & Main. It is published here with permission.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s billionaires, individually<\/a> and collectively<\/a>, are spending wildly to try to defeat the state initiative that would tax their wealth. If you watch TV or use social media, you\u2019ve likely already been inundated with scaremongering that forecasts rich person flight from the state and other miseries should the one-time tax pass.<\/p>\n

But when supporters of Proposition 40<\/a> speak on the initiative, they do so with a passion and conviction that wealthy figures trying to protect their treasures \u2014 think of Google\u2019s Sergey Brin and Larry Page, or Meta\u2019s Mark Zuckerberg \u2014 never seem to match. These supporters talk about protecting the most vulnerable residents of the state; of maintaining basic health care services in the face of defunding by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration and Congress; of the absurdity of the ultra-rich trying to shield their wealth behind walls of stock options and investments.<\/p>\n

The supporters number in the several millions. They are leading in most polls<\/a>. And many of them are unapologetically on the attack \u2014 including the leader of arguably the most powerful federation of unions in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been very honest that I think billionaires shouldn\u2019t exist,\u201d Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, said in a phone interview this week. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t bother me in the least to tax billionaires out of existence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gonzalez\u2019s federation, the umbrella organization for 2.4 million unionized workers<\/a> in the state, has strongly endorsed<\/a> Prop. 40. And Gonzalez, a former longtime member of the state Assembly, said her group will be trying to get the initiative passed in the November election, including organizing a statewide text bank and mailing campaign.<\/p>\n

The wealth tax is hardly the only issue on the California Labor Federation\u2019s agenda this election. But the heart of the organization\u2019s endorsement, Gonzalez said, is \u201ca duty to represent this movement\u201d by honoring what the federation\u2019s members say they care about.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen polling after polling of young people, union members under the age of 45, and they want this initiative with like 65%, 75% support, you know?\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cThis is what they believe the labor movement should be fighting for \u2014 and I\u2019m proud that we actually are.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Prop. 40 is designed to backfill federal funding for critical health care programs like Medi-Cal and local clinics \u2014 funding that is due for steep cuts. Proponents estimate<\/a> it would raise upward of $100 billion by placing a one-time tax of 5% on the total net worth of California\u2019s billionaires, who number slightly more than 200.<\/p>\n

The tax is payable over five years. It excludes directly held real estate (billionaires\u2019 mansions), pensions, and certain retirement accounts, and it applies only to those who held a net worth of at least $1 billion on Jan. 1, 2026. The resulting money would be used almost entirely on healthcare services, with about 10% going for public food assistance and education programs.<\/p>\n

Opponents of the measure argue<\/a> it\u2019s a poorly designed mechanism that will ultimately cost the state money and predict that wealthy residents will flee elsewhere to avoid being taxed. They also raise the prospect that the temporary tax could lead to a permanent one (although that couldn\u2019t happen without an entirely new statewide referendum).<\/p>\n

For Gonzalez, who took over at the Cal Labor Federation in 2022, this landscape is familiar. As a Democrat from San Diego who served almost a decade in the Assembly, she authored a number of measures aimed at increasing access to healthcare in the state.<\/p>\n

On the subject of this initiative, the labor leader is clear about the source of the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was created by Trump,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cHe gave billionaires tax breaks, and the way he funded it was by doing things like cutting $100 billion from California.\u201d (Federal funding cuts to Medicaid under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act have been estimated at $1 trillion<\/a> nationally, with California specifically losing roughly $30 billion annually.)<\/p>\n

The GOP-led Congress was more than willing to do Trump\u2019s bidding in going after Medicaid, the low-income health care program known as Medi-Cal in California. That\u2019s consistent with Trump\u2019s agenda<\/a> of defunding food assistance like SNAP, public housing programs and K-12 education, in favor of more defense spending and tax cuts for the wealthy.<\/p>\n

All states will suffer under the cuts, including many of those that carried Trump to victory in 2024. Only California is proposing to tax its own ultrawealthy individuals in an attempt to stave off the worst effects of the health care funding reductions.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Gonzalez is among those who have long supported a national wealth tax. But with no realistic prospect of that happening, the labor leader said that the California measure needs to pass in order to allow the state to simply continue providing basic health care to its residents. More than a third of the state\u2019s population, nearly 14 million people<\/a>, depend upon Medi-Cal for such care.<\/p>\n

Billionaires like Google\u2019s Brin, along with other Prop. 40 opponents, have already spent well north of $127 million<\/a> to defeat the Billionaire Tax via competing ballot measures \u2014 many multiples of the best estimates of what proponents are spending. A group<\/a> largely funded by Brin also is promoting competing ballot initiatives that, if passed, would effectively gut the tax.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you imagine if these same people had instead said, \u2018We know we have a healthcare crisis. Maybe we can help bridge the gap?\u2019\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cEven the titans of old days invested in social structures, public education, the arts. I just don\u2019t think our system can work when billionaires only want to enrich themselves and become even more powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The California Labor Federation, which counts healthcare workers among the 2.3 million members in its affiliated organizations, is not the only union backing Prop. 40. The measure was sponsored by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, and counts multiple powerful unions<\/a> and the California Democratic Party among its supporters. (Disclosure: SEIU is a financial supporter of Capital & Main).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The measure has been opposed by a few notable unions, including<\/a> the California Teachers Association. (Disclosure: CTA is a financial supporter of Capital & Main). But public opinion has largely favored the initiative since it qualified for the November ballot.<\/p>\n

SEIU-UHW is embroiled in a controversy, with its president, Dave Regan, accused of trying to extort<\/a> support for Prop. 40 from other union leaders and, in one case, physically assaulting a former executive director. (Regan has denied the charges.) Gonzalez said that most voters \u201cdon\u2019t know who Dave Regan is,\u201d adding that her organization\u2019s support for Prop. 40 is a policy decision, not a leadership one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s largest newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, which is owned by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, weighed in last week with an unsigned editorial<\/a> against the initiative. And the billionaires\u2019 own ad campaign is heavily focused on the unsubstantiated threat<\/a> that the ultrawealthy will flee the state en masse if they\u2019re taxed on their net worth.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez is unmoved.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t like this solution? What is your solution, then?\u201d she asked. \u201cPeople are going to die. People are going to lose their jobs, and we know that all the other costs are going to go up as a result, including to people with private health insurance or Covered California.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump gave the billionaires tax breaks. Out of fairness, this one-time tax on them is a way to bridge the gap \u2014 until we get a new president.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capital & Main<\/a> is an award-winning nonprofit publication that reports from California on the most pressing economic, environmental and social issues of our time, including economic inequality, climate change, health care, threats to democracy, hate and extremism and immigration.\u200b<\/p>\n

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