California's Destructive Wealth Tax Delusion is a Destructive Fable
California’s proposed wealth tax is not only incredibly inequitable and abusive to taxpayers — it will deliver a massive net economic loss and fail to raise meaningful long-term revenue for the state.
The Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) has qualified the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act for the November ballot. It would impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of California residents worth more than $1 billion. Proponents claim this will raise roughly $100 billion for healthcare, K-12 education, and food assistance. They ignore the obvious. Wealthy people do not sit still for confiscatory taxes. They react — and California’s high earners have been fleeing for years to no-income-tax states like Florida, Texas, and Nevada, taking their businesses, jobs, and ongoing tax payments with them.
When these billionaires leave, California loses far more than any one-time wealth tax haul. Those individuals pay substantial state income taxes every year, generate sales taxes on major purchases, and drive investment that creates jobs and future taxpayers. New entrepreneurs who might build the next generation of billionaires will simply launch companies elsewhere. Frédéric Bastiat warned us 175 years ago about “that which is seen and that which is not seen.” Politicians see the immediate revenue and spending. They miss the unseen damage to the tax base, economy, and state finances. Even Governor Gavin Newsom has warned this measure will drive people out and damage California — yet union-backed forces push ahead anyway. Elizabeth Warren has an economics degree but still champions similar ideas, showing that credentials do not equal sound thinking. As the old Abbott and Costello skit shows: Abbott says:“How could you say that? Didn’t you go to school, stupid?” Costello replies: “Yes; and I came out the same way.”
Free markets, individual liberty, and fiscal responsibility grow real prosperity — punitive wealth taxes do not. California voters must reject this measure in November. Anything less proves you cannot tax your way to fiscal health and will only accelerate the state’s long-term decline.