Gavin Newsom Proposes a National Billionaire Tax

[applegrove]

Gavin Newsom Proposes a National Billionaire Tax

June 26, 2026 at 9:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 208 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2026/06/26/gavin-newsom-proposes-a-national-billionaire-tax/

“California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday proposed a national tax on billionaires that he says is the first part of an “economic reset for America” agenda, which aides explicitly say is part of his considering to launch a presidential campaign,” CNN reports.

Said Newsom: “The system America’s founders built was designed to prevent the concentration of power in a few hands, but we have allowed that concentration to happen anyway, slowly, in plain sight, over decades. We can reverse it together, as a country.”

“It is extremely early in the presidential campaign cycle for a policy proposal — but comes as Democrats continue to embrace economic populism and moves against the wealthy. It also comes as California voters in November will decide on a billionaires’ tax after the governor and opponents of the tax late Thursday failed to reach a deal to keep it off the ballot.”

Wall Street Journal: California’s proposed billionaire tax will appear before voters in November, teeing up a high-stakes fight among Democrats.

[Zorro]

1. Works for me

[orthoclad]

2. How does China manage their billionaires?

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. Which he knows would never pass

Between the filibuster and $millions in donations from the techbros, Newsom knows a national billionaire tax has absolutely no chance of passing.

The best that could be hoped for federally is a repeal of the Trump tax cuts.

But a referendum sent to the people, like the one in California, can’t be obstructed or bribed…

[Sympthsical]

4. He's trying to head off California voters at the pass

Curious to see what the implications will be. He's going to be a juggernaut in the '28 primary, but walking into that with his own voters rebuking him on billionaire taxation would certainly be an interesting look.

But we'll see what November brings. They're certainly going to bring every bit of political force and money to bear to defeat it. Cannot wait for this marketing campaign to start. Might as well just set fire to my phone now and remove the mailbox from the curb.

[31j20b3]

5. He has power to promise his support for such, but he can't make it happen by himself

I find this a troubling part of American politics

The politicians campaign on legislative agenda that they CANNOT MAKE HAPPEN by themselves.

And so. despite beautiful "promises", Dems cannot make their promises come true

As a realist this doesn't really bother me, but for the general population they get mired in the memes of promises not kept.

As a party we need to move toward the notion that a leading public official CANNOT make things happen without a whole heaping shovel ful of popular and Congressional support. If we could get to THAT real politick thinking we might get people to recapture the belief that their voices and their votes count in the running of Government. I think THAT would greatly benefit Dems