Gov. Gavin Newsom with Texas Democrats. (Photo: CA Press office)
SEIU Announces They Have Enough Signatures for Billionaire-Tax to Qualify for Ballot
Chamath Palihapitiya Warns ‘Billionaire Tax’ Could Expand Beyond Ultra-Wealthy: ‘Actually An Everyone Tax’
By Katy Grimes, April 27, 2026 7:50 am
Supporters of the proposed California billionaire tax, sponsored by SEIU, announced Sunday that they had gathered nearly twice as many signatures as necessary to qualify the controversial proposal for the November ballot.
Democrats and the SEIU are pushing the “2026 Billionaires Tax Act,” a retroactive billionaire tax targeting the roughly 220 billionaires residing in California in 2025, ignoring that these individuals are the most financially mobile and can live anywhere. And it’s not just a tax, it is asset seizure targeting billionaire’s “unrealized assets.” Expecting them to remain in the state as if they will happily and willingly hand over even more of their wealth surely must be facetious, the Globe reported.
The SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) made the announcement:
“Supporters of the Healthcare Executive Compensation Act submitted more than one million signatures to the California Attorney General and county registrars across the state, a landmark step toward qualifying the measure for the November 2026 ballot.”
California billionaires are already leaving the state in record numbers, and taking their billions with them. According to one billionaire, more than $1 Trillion has already left.
In January, the Globe reported:
Chamath Palihapitiya posted to X:
Unfortunate update as of today: More calls from friends. The total wealth that has left California is now $1T. We had $2T of billionaire wealth just a few weeks ago. Now, 50% of that wealth has left – taking their income tax revenue, sales tax revenue, real estate tax revenue and all their staffs (and their salaries and income taxes) with them.
This weekend, Palihapitiya posted to X:
The Billionaire Tax is actually an Everyone Tax.
The Billionaire Tax is a new tax proposal written by four professors who don’t believe in the American dream.
Some of them aren’t even American…go figure.
Despite its name, it applies to every California resident who currently has assets or ever will.
The creators named it the Billionaire Tax so you would get into a froth andwouldn’t look closely at what it actually does to you.
On page twenty-six, it explains how the government can convert to an Everyone Tax without voter approval.
They can also adjust the tax to be a yearly tax, not just one time…again, without your approval.
Here’s how the tax would work: As a voter, you’re being asked to approve a tax that would require you to:
1. list all your assets and the value of each, then submit them to the California Franchise Tax Board.
2. authorize the tax board to appraise your assets and confirm the value of each.
3. pay a penalty of up to forty percent of your tax bill if the board determines your reported value was too low in their opinion.
4. allow the tax board to subpoena your financial records from every one of your financial institutions for auditing.
This Everyone Tax runs 34 pages of shifty language describing how the government plans to take your assets.
Read the fine print and decide for yourself. If this were truly a billionaire tax, it would be 3 pages. It’s 34 pages so that it can create the mechanisms to steal from all of you.
The Tax Foundation says the initiative “would ostensibly impose a one-time tax of 5 percent on the net worth of the state’s billionaires. Due, however, to aggressive design choices and possible drafting errors, the actual rate on taxpayers’ net worth could be dramatically higher.”
“Advocates, however, say the proposed tax is critical to compensate for federal healthcare funding cuts that will harm the state’s most vulnerable residents,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“Most Californians and most billionaires recognize how reasonable and necessary this proposal is — both to keep emergency rooms open and to save California businesses from closing,” said Suzanne Jimenez, the chief of staff of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, the chief proponent of the effort. “A very small group of the most controversial billionaires on the planet tried to stop” this effort, she added, but when “our growing coalition files these signatures, David will have won the first round against Goliath.”
— Bytemeharder (@bytemeharder) April 25, 2026
Taxing unrealized capital gains on the “value of securities” is rich: if an asset is projected to make money but you don’t cash in on that profit, it’s an unrealized gain. But unrealized assets aren’t always profitable. This could really impact not just the portfolios owned by the wealthy, but also the pension plans of many government employees.
If anyone thinks the billionaire tax will really be a one-time tax, or it will only be billionaires who are taxed, I have a bridge to sell you.
California’s median home price is anywhere between $800,000 and $900,000, depending on who you ask. Taxing 50% of California’s homeowners must give Democrats the chills.
While Governor Gavin Newsom claims that he opposes the billionaire tax, he’s done no campaigning to prevent the initiative from qualifying for the ballot.
In February, Politico claimed “Newsom is highly motivated to halt the initiative.” In his interview with POLITICO, Newsom said the drumbeat of wealthy tech players making moves to exit California vindicated his warnings about the ballot measure’s downsides.
“This is my fear. It’s just what I warned against. It’s happening,” Newsom said.
Talk is cheap. If the governor can get the California Supreme Court to strike down a ballot initiative to limit the government’s ability to raise taxes without public approval, as he did in 2024, he can stop the billionaire tax.
Watch what Newsom does.
A California native and Navy mom, Katy lives in Sacramento, CA.
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There will be a stampede of people leaving the state but here is the catch – there will be lots of sellers but NO buyers!
Early on the NY Post published a poll that showed most voters were against it, once they heard the arguments on both sides and realized it would affect EVERYONE, not just the “hated” class of billionaires:
https://nypost.com/2026/01/12/us-news/california-voters-are-likely-to-vote-against-billionaire-wealth-tax-poll-shows/
Ordinarily that lack of voter support would lead to the potential of election rigging, but if, duh, BILLIONAIRES —- the ones who remain here —- are against it and fight to oppose it, and supposedly Gov Gavin is against it to boot, whose cooperation in cheating would presumably be needed, it may be MUCH more difficult to rig this one. Guess we’ll see
Some claim that when the Ottoman Empire taxed trees that the response of the orchard owners was to cut down the tree, leading to deforestation.
I’ve been teaching at a California Community College for 25 years. Last month there were an unprecedented number of petition circulators on campus. Of course, they seemed more like carnies: tables, loud music, snacks, and asking anyone within shouting distance “Hey, are you registered to vote?”
This will be an asset forfeiture for everyone. Government/Democrap greed knows no bounds. You will be taxed on income you already paid taxes on, and can watch your bank accounts bleed dry.
So all SEIU members signed this!
SEIU, a garbage union wholly owned by worthless communists. Perfectly placed in brain dead California!
Here is what AI says when asked how this Act could be challenged in court.
The 2026 Billionaire Tax Act faces multiple potential constitutional challenges, primarily centered on retroactivity, due process, and interstate commerce. Key legal arguments include:
Retroactivity and Due Process: The tax applies to residency status as of January 1, 2026, despite the vote occurring in November 2026. Critics argue this violates the Due Process Clause because it imposes a new tax based on a status that existed when no such tax was in effect, potentially impeding the fundamental right to travel between states.
Dormant Commerce Clause: The initiative’s standard apportionment method taxes 100% of worldwide assets regardless of where the wealth was generated, which opponents argue fails the Complete Auto test by not being fairly apportioned and discriminating against interstate commerce.
Bill of Attainder: The law singles out a specific group (individuals with net worth over $1 billion) for punishment without a trial, which could be challenged as an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder under Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution.
Equal Protection: Plaintiffs may argue the tax violates the Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. and California Constitutions by discriminating based on wealth, a classification that may be considered suspect under California law.
Property Tax Cap: Opponents could argue the tax is effectively a property tax rather than an excise tax, which would subject it to the California Constitution’s 0.04% tax cap on certain financial instruments.
A
dministrative and Valuation Issues: Challenges may also arise from the valuation of illiquid assets and the Franchise Tax Board’s limited administrative budget, potentially rendering the tax unenforceable or arbitrary.
If any provision is deemed invalid, the Act’s severability clause allows courts to preserve the tax by adjusting dates, potentially shifting the liability determination to the date of the Act’s passage.
THIS LAST ITEM IS WHY BILLIONAIRES ARE LEAVING NOW.