More States Want to Tax the Rich. Here's How.

WSJ What’s News

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, News

4.1 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2026

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

Voters in California are weighing a one-time tax on billionaires. Meanwhile, states including Maine and Massachusetts have already implemented income taxes on wealthy residents. The idea of levying higher taxes on the rich is catching on across the U.S., but the way the measures work—and how residents feel about them—couldn’t be more different. Host Alex Ossola discusses the efforts to tax the wealthy (and their opposition) with WSJ economics reporter Jeanne Whalen and Journal enterprise reporter Laura Nelson. Further Reading Proposed California Billionaire Tax Clears Key Hurdle on Way to Ballot Rich Californians Are Finding Creative Ways to Get Ahead of the Billionaire Tax California’s Tax-Weary Billionaires Seek Refuge on Lake Tahoe’s Nevada Shore Wealth-Tax Fever Is Spreading to Less-Wealthy States

Transcript

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0:00.0	Attention all passengers.
0:04.2	The Uber ride for Mark and Jamal's romantic weekend
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0:10.5	Your ride comes with a rolling countryside sunset view
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0:21.9	Trains on Uber. Trains on Uber.
0:25.1	Hey, What's News listeners.
0:26.7	It's Sunday, July 12th.
0:28.4	I'm Alex O'Sullough for the Wall Street Journal.
0:30.7	This is What's News Sunday, the show where we tackle the big questions about the biggest stories in the news.
0:35.8	On the show this week, we're looking at efforts
0:37.7	around the U.S. to increase taxes on the wealthy. There's a proposal in California to tax
0:46.0	the state's billionaires, and the effort recently cleared a key hurdle, so it'll appear on the
0:50.7	ballot in November. That's no guarantee it'll become law, but it's good news for the
0:55.4	health care workers union that proposed it. In fact, they say it's necessary. This is a one-time
1:01.0	emergency tax to address the collapse of our health care system in California and the loss of
1:06.3	health care coverage for three and a half million people. That was Dave Regan, the president of the service
1:11.3	employees International Union United Healthcare Workers West, speaking recently on KCR News.
1:17.8	But there are also lots of people who oppose the billionaire tax, even among people who support
1:22.6	higher taxes in general. Billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Kozla recently discussed it in an interview with
1:28.8	journal reporter Gunjin Banerjee. And though Kozla says he's in favor of higher taxes to support
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