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Tech billionaires push back against proposed wealth tax in California

View original article → Aug 22, 2026, 12:01 PM

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− Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Tech billionaires push back against proposed wealth tax in California Tech billionaires in California are fighting a proposed one-time wealth tax.

+ Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Proposed California wealth tax fuels debate over billionaire flight A proposed first-of-its kind tax would target California's nearly 250 billionaires in an effort to fund health care.

− A Google co-founder is leading the charge against the tax, which would generate revenue for health-care services.

+ If voters pass it, will the state's economy suffer?

− National Tech billionaires push back against proposed wealth tax in California August 20, 20264:45 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition Bobby Allyn Tech billionaires push back against proposed wealth tax in California Listen · 4:07 4:07 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5935597/nx-s1-9894194" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Tech billionaires in California are fighting a proposed one-time wealth tax.

+ Technology Proposed California wealth tax sparks debate: Will billionaires leave the state?

− A Google co-founder is leading the charge against the tax, which would generate revenue for health-care services.

+ Updated August 22, 20265:00 AM ET Originally published August 20, 20264:45 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition Bobby Allyn Healthcare workers and other supporters with the Billionaire Tax Now coalition hold placards during a media briefing in Los Angeles on April 27, 2026.

− Sponsor Message Transcript LEILA FADEL, HOST: OK.

+ The initiative would levy a one-time 5% tax on California billionaires.

− Let's head back to the California that Harry and Meghan are leaving, where there's a battle over a tax on billionaires.

+ Frederic J.

− Proposition 40 is a first of its kind of measure. It would collect a one-time 5% tax on the state's wealthiest residents. Billionaires are spending millions against it. NPR'S Bobby Allyn reports.

+ Brown/AFP via Getty Images hide caption A battle over a first-of-its-kind tax on billionaires is heating up in California, with tech moguls pumping millions of dollars into a campaign to defeat it and union leaders who support the measure insisting the state's very wealthiest residents should pay their fair share.

− BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE: The story of the proposed billionaire tax starts with President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, which was signed into law last year.

+ The Indicator from Planet Money How taxing the wealthy could work Voters in November will be asked whether to pass the ballot measure, known as Proposition 40, which imposes a one-time 5% tax on the assets of the nearly 250 billionaires in the state.

− Opponents say the law's cuts to healthcare and food assistance could amount to nearly $100 billion in California over the next five years. Dave Regan, president of the SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, thought, OK, what should the state of California do about that?

+ Backers say the new revenue would mostly fund healthcare services.

− DAVE REGAN: And so, Proposition 40 was developed specifically to backfill those cuts from the One Big Bill that are scheduled to take effect in the next five years.

+ The tax was envisioned by union leader Dave Regan, who said millions of the state's neediest patients could lose health insurance in the coming years, driven largely by President Trump's 2025 tax and spending bill.

− It is a 5-year solution to that plan.

+ Dubbed by the White House the "One Big Beautiful Bill," the law slashes federal funding to California and other states.

− ALLYN: Here's how it works.

+ "Proposition 40 was developed specifically to backfill those cuts from the One Big Bill that are scheduled to take effect in the next five years.

− California's nearly 250 billionaires will pay a 5% tax on their total assets. Regan says 90% of that money will be used for healthcare services, and the other 10% will go towards food assistance and public education.

+ It is a five-year solution to that plan," said Regan, who is the president of the SEIU United Healthcare Workers West.

− REGAN: We're not even talking about the top 1%. We're talking about the top 0.0001% - the billionaires, 250 individuals in California, $2.4 trillion worth of wealth. And that's an amount of money equivalent to the annual income of all Californians who are not billionaires, including extraordinarily wealthy people.

+ If passed, the measure would direct 90% of the tax revenue to fund healthcare services and the other 10% to food assistance and public education across California.

− ALLYN: Billionaires in California are not happy. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has poured $102 million into a group known as Building a Better California to defeat the effort, in part by supporting a separate ballot measure that would invalidate the tax.

+ National Over 4 million people are no longer receiving food aid amid sweeping changes to SNAP "We're not even talking about the top 1%, we're talking about the top 0.0001%, the billionaires: 250 individuals in California, $2.4 trillion worth of wealth, and that's an amount of money equivalent to the annual income of all Californians who are not billionaires, including extraordinarily wealthy people," Regan said.

− But others are uncomfortable with the tax too, including Governor Gavin Newsom, some labor unions and tax policy experts.

+ But the populist fervor fueling supporters of the measure is being met with a growing coalition of resisters, from tech billionaires to other unions and some state Democrats.

− They say this one-time tax will lead to billionaires fleeing the state, and that could open a giant hole in California's budget in the years ahead - a short-term fix that has bad long-term consequences, they argue.

+ That includes Democratic Gov.

− Here's Adam Michel, who studies tax policy at the libertarian Cato Institute.

+ Gavin Newsom, who has said the tax would hurt the state's economy, which is powered by profitable tech companies in Silicon Valley that have spawned many of the billionaires who would be taxed under the measure.

− ADAM MICHEL: A wealth tax of this magnitude will be bad for California and for California taxpayers. We should expect not just targeted billionaires to leave, but anyone that expects to be a billionaire or expects to be the target of aggressive taxes like this in the future to leave.

+ Opponents of the tax argue it offers a short-term fix to a long-term problem and could ultimately backfire.

− ALLYN: It's a crucial issue since California's Chamber of Commerce estimates 1% of the state's residents pay nearly 50% of all personal income taxes.

+ "I'm not against taxes.

− Everyone agrees that a mass flight of the ultrarich would throw California's budget into a tailspin.

+ But this is not the right tool.

− But will that actually happen?

+ What we need to develop is something that is stable and consistent," said René Bravo, president of the California Medical Association, in an interview with NPR.

− Regan, who was the architect of the tax, says it deliberately applies to billionaires who resided in California in January of this year, meaning leaving after it passes won't allow them to dodge the tax.

+ "Human beings need and deserve health care that is financed in such a way that you're not increasing the insecurity." Here & Now Anytime Could a tax on billionaires solve California's inequality crisis?

− Cato's Michel says the tax will discourage future billionaires from ever moving to California.

+ Bravo argues Proposition 40, if passed, would make patients more unstable by providing them with bridge coverage now, but no longer-term solution — making it difficult to plan out medical coverage over many years. Bravo also said he does not trust state lawmakers to spend most of the new revenue on healthcare, speculating that they could direct the money to other pet projects.

− MICHEL: Any billionaire that sticks around after Californians level this one time tax, have to assume that voters will come back to them again with taxes like this in the future. ALLYN: Sergey Brin and other billionaires have recently moved to the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.

+ "Not accurate, not true," responded union leader Regan.

− Critics of the tax say there will only be more and more of that if voters pass the measure in November. Brin did not return multiple requests for comment, but in a statement to The New York Times he said, quote, "I fled socialism with my family in 1979 and know the devastating oppressive society it created in the Soviet Union. I don't want California to end up in the same place." Union leader Regan says Brin owes his success in part to government-backed research that helped create Google.

+ He said voters face a choice between more immediate healthcare funding for Californians or none at all, and that a third way being proposed by some critics is not on the ballot.

− REGAN: You are now one of the five wealthiest people in the world in the state that made you rich - enormously rich, needs to stabilize its healthcare system.

+ Another major rift between both sides of the fight is whether the first-of-its-kind state wealth tax would drive billionaires out of California.

− ALLYN: Polls show that Californians are nearly evenly split on the tax.

+ It's a crucial issue, since California's Chamber of Commerce estimates 1% of the state's residents pay nearly 50% of all personal income taxes.

− Bobby Allyn, NPR News.

+ Few disagree that a mass flight of the ultra-rich would throw California's budget into a tailspin, but the measure has sparked a fierce debate about whether billionaires will actually pack up and leave the state.

− (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NOW YOU KNOW") WEIRD AL YANKOVIC: (Singing) No fabrications, no exaggerations.

+ French economist Thomas Piketty, who has written extensively about disparities in international wealth, has argued that what's known as "capital flight" is often overstated in debates about wealth taxes.

− It's the gospel truth.

+ "If one builds a fortune while relying on the country's infrastructure, education, and health systems, there is no reason that one should so readily escape the collective obligations that fund these systems," Piketty wrote last year about a proposed wealth tax in France aimed at the ultra-rich. Adam Michel, who studies tax policy at the libertarian Cato Institute, believes taxing high income earners will be destructive for the state. "A wealth tax of this magnitude will be bad for California and for California taxpayers.

+ We should expect not just targeted billionaires to leave, but anyone that expects to be a billionaire or expects to be the target of aggressive taxes like this in the future to leave," he said. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, one of the richest people in the world, agrees. He has poured $102 million into a group known as Building a Better California, which he co-founded with former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt.

+ The group has also received millions of dollars in funding from venture capitalist John Doerr, crypto executive Chris Larsen and others.

− Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

+ Building a Better California's mission is to defeat the effort, in part by supporting a separate ballot measure that would invalidate the wealth tax.

− Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary.

+ Other tech billionaires, including Palantir founder Peter Thiel, who no longer lives in California, have funneled millions of dollars into other groups hoping to topple the measure. A spokesperson for Building a Better California did not return a request for comment, but Brin told The New York Times: "I fled socialism with my family in 1979 and know the devastating, oppressive society it created in the Soviet Union.

− Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio.

+ I don't want California to end up in the same place." Brin recently moved to the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.

− Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication.

+ Critics of the tax say there will only be more billionaires leaving California if voters pass the measure. Union leader Regan calls Brin's move political theater.

− The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

+ He pointed out that the wealth tax applies to California residents who lived in the state in January of this year, so moving out of state would not allow anyone to dodge the tax, nor would relocating after November, if the ballot measure prevails.

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+ Bloomberg estimated the tax could personally cost Brin around $13 billion. Regan said Brin owes his success in part to government-backed research that helped create Google and insisted that a one-time 5% tax would not be overly burdensome for the tech mogul. "You are now one of the five wealthiest people in the world in the state that made you rich, enormously rich," said Regan as if speaking directly to Brin, noting that California "needs to stabilize its healthcare system." Some polls show that Californians are nearly evenly split on the tax. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor