Should California Impose a Tax on Billionaires?

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A California health care union is campaigning for a ballot measure that would impose a one-time “wealth tax” on the state’s roughly estimated 200 billionaires. The proposal is meant to shore upfunding for health programs facing severe cuts because of federal funding reductions. But it’s stirring opposition from Governor Gavin Newsom, who says the tax could harm the state’s economy. We talk about how the tax would work and what the risks and benefits might come from a new levy on the state’s wealthiest residents. Guests: Marisa Lagos, politics correspondent, KQED; co-host, KQED's Political Breakdown Ryan Mac, tech reporter based in Los Angeles, The New York Times; co-author, “Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter” Suzanne Jimenez, chief of staff, SEIU United Healthcare Workers West Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:45.5	From KQED. Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. A proposed tax on billionaires in California, which hasn't even qualified for the
0:56.3	November ballot, is already triggering strong reaction and spurring action. Here's Silicon Valley billionaire
1:02.4	David Sacks, President Trump's AI and CryptoZar on the All In podcast. It's like the Democrats
1:09.1	are doing everything they can to get me to leave the state.
1:11.9	They've been boiling the frog. I still haven't jumped out of the pot. But for me, I think the
1:17.3	wealth tax, I'm going to have to jump out of the pot with this. The New York Times also reports
1:21.9	Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Larry Page are cutting some of their California ties in
1:27.0	anticipation of the tax.
1:28.7	And Governor Newsom has come out strongly against the measure, though Envidia CEO Jensen Huang
1:33.9	says he's perfectly fine with it. Sponsored by Labor Union, SEIU United Healthcare Workers West,
1:39.8	it seeks a one-time 5% tax on the assets of the state's 200-plus billionaires to fund health care cuts from a publican so-called big, beautiful bill.
1:49.6	And joining me now is SEIUHW, Chief of Staff, Suzanne Jimenez.
1:54.6	Suzanne, welcome.
1:56.4	Hi, Nina. Thanks for having me.
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