Soaking the "Rich" in California with a Wealth Tax
- Barry Poulson
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Bob Carlstrom and Dr. Barry W. Poulson
Charlie Kirk challenged the left’s attempts to soak the rich with higher taxes as self-defeating. There is no better example of this than the proposed billionaire’s tax in California. In the November 2026 election California citizens will vote on a ballot measure that would impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires. The tax would be due in 2026, but billionaires would have the option of paying the wealth tax in annual installments of 1% over five years. The tax would be based on the worldwide net worth of billionaires valued as of December 31, 2026, excluding real state directly held, pensions, and retirement accounts. Revenue from the wealth tax is earmarked for health care and other state transfers.
It is difficult to imagine a tax more damaging to the growth and prosperity of California – and to the jobs of thousands of California workers as the billionaires’ companies move to other states A report by the California Attorney General concluded that it is impossible to know how much revenue would be collected because it is difficult to predict how billionaires would respond to the tax. The Attorney General notes that the wealth tax would generate revenues in the short term, but in the long-term income tax revenues would fall as billionaires leave the state. The report estimates that the wealth tax would decrease state income tax revenues by hundreds of billions of dollars per year as billionaires flee the state. The evidence is already in. A dozen Silicon Valley billionaires are reported to be preparing to leave the state. Google co-founder Larry Page and Oracle founder Lary Ellison are decamping for other states, and other billionaires are expected to follow[...]
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