California Wealth Tax Battle Continues

I haven’t written about this in a few weeks but the battle for and against the California Wealth Tax is still going on. The tax did make it onto the ballot so it will be up to California voters to decide this November. But both sides are still pushing hard to convince voters to back them.

A coalition of billionaires who could have to pay a proposed wealth tax in California has made its most significant move so far to undermine such a tax: It has reserved nearly $87 million of advertising time across the state to air TV commercials.

The ads, which will begin airing next month, are the opening salvo in what is expected to be an expensive fight that has already riven Silicon Valley and state politics.

Opponents of the tax really have two ways to win this battle. One is by driving the popularity of the tax down far enough that it doesn’t pass. But there are also two rival ballot initiatives on the ballot placed there by opponents. Because the content of those two measures overlaps with the wealth tax only the one that gets the most votes will be enacted.

Building a Better California is backing Proposition 41, which would require audits of programs funded by new taxes, and Proposition 42, which would prohibit new taxes on personal property and financial assets. If both the billionaire tax and a countermeasure pass, the one that garners the most “yes” votes would prevail.

So they also win if one of those two alternatives gets more votes than the tax. As for supporters of the tax, they have also been spending a lot of money on…something.

The Post’s review of federal records found that officials for Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West burned millions on an out-of-state political effort as well as dues on travel, conferences and beachfront retreats — all while paying nearly $235,000 to a “clarity coach” who appeared in a series of low-budget mindfulness videos on Instagram…

the union’s latest financial disclosures — filed with the U.S. Department of Labor — offer a glimpse into how its own members’ dues were spent last year, including conferences and retreats in Puerto Rico, Redondo Beach and San Diego…

“After all the time and money the SEIU spent promoting ‘tax the rich’ policies, it’s nice to see union leaders rewarding themselves with Goop-style breathing classes,” said Charlyce Bozzello, communications director for the Center for Union Facts, a watchdog group that scrutinizes organized labor spending.

“It must be hard work spending members’ dues on luxury hotel stays and meditation classes.”

Meanwhile, California’s push for the tax seems to be having a great impact on Miami’s housing market.

Miami has overtaken New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area as the nation’s hottest market for $30 million-plus homes, as wealthy buyers continue pouring into low-tax Florida.

A total of 24 single-family homes and condominiums in Miami-Dade County sold for more than $30 million during the first six months of 2026 — nearly double the number from the same period a year earlier and enough to put the market on pace to eclipse last year’s record of 33 such sales, according to Bloomberg News, which cited real estate analytics firm Analytics Miami…

much of the momentum has come from California billionaires and other affluent residents looking for a foothold in Florida ahead of a proposed ballot measure that would impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires, according to Douglas Elliman agent Dina Goldentayer.

That group includes tech heavyweights Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Mark Zuckerberg, all of whom purchased South Florida properties within a roughly two-month span this year, Bloomberg reported.

Finally, there was a good article in the SF Standard yesterday about Sweden’s experiment with a wealth tax. Swedish economist Magnus Henrekson says it didn’t go well.

In research with Gunnar Du Rietz(opens in new tab), I found that Sweden’s wealth-tax revenue never exceeded 0.4% of GDP in the postwar period and amounted to only 0.16% of GDP (0.3% of total tax revenue) in 2006, the last year before repeal. That is a striking result. A tax that appeared symbolically powerful was fiscally marginal. It generated political conflict, administrative complexity, and economic distortions while contributing little to the financing of the Swedish welfare state…

By the time the tax was repealed, the conclusion had become broadly pragmatic rather than ideological. Sweden kept high taxes on labor and consumption. It kept a large welfare state. But it removed a tax that punished capital formation and entrepreneurship, encouraged avoidance, and produced little revenue…

California is not Sweden. It is larger, richer, and home to the most important technology cluster in the world. But that makes the warning even more important. Silicon Valley’s value lies not only in the net worth of a few billionaires. It lies in a dense network of founders, engineers, venture capitalists, universities, experienced managers, and ambitious immigrants. These networks are powerful, but they are not immovable. Capital moves faster than factories, founders can relocate before their next company is formed, investment committees can shift attention, and young entrepreneurs can decide that the next risky venture is better launched elsewhere.

The union pushing this tax doesn’t care about any of that, but California voters should.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.

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