WSJ: California's Billionaire Tax Kicks Off a Democratic Civil War

[TheProle]

2. CNN: Gavin Newsom opposes a California wealth tax. He's proposing a national billionaire tax instead

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.

“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,” Newsom writes. “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.

Newsom, who is term-limited in California and will leave office in January 2027, lays out his proposal in a Substack post that went live on Friday morning, calling for a minimum tax on anyone worth more than $100 million so that they pay at least the same rate, rather than less, than the average American worker who doesn’t have loopholes and other maneuvers to benefit from.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/26/politics/gavin-newsom-billionaire-tax-california