California’s billionaire tax fight is moving beyond Sacramento. Dave Regan, the labor leader behind Proposition 40, said Tuesday that his push for a one-time five percent tax on the wealth of the state’s richest residents is now part of a broader national campaign targeting money he says is kept outside the tax system.
Regan, president of the health care union SEIU-UHW, said the proposal has drawn more attention than he expected. He told Politico, “I think this is now a national campaign.” He added, “We knew this was provocative, we knew it would touch a nerve, but we completely underestimated how much interest and attention it would generate.” The measure would affect about 200 California billionaires and direct the estimated billions in revenue to the state’s health care programs.
The billionaire tax has already sparked a major political and financial fight. It has faced resistance from powerful labor and health care groups, along with Gov. Gavin Newsom, while billionaires and tech executives have poured tens of millions of dollars into efforts to defeat it. Google co-founder Sergey Brin alone has given more than $100 million to the opposition, including a recent $20 million donation, according to the reporting on the campaign. With an estimated fortune of about $267 billion, Brin could face an estimated $13.3 billion hit under the proposal.
Regan brushed aside warnings that wealthy Californians would leave the state to avoid the tax. He said, “I can’t stop governor Newsom or others from spreading misinformation, but we can all look it up,” and called the idea that billionaires provide that much tax revenue “a complete fallacy.” Brin has publicized a move to Nevada, but Regan said he remains tied to the California battle through Building A Better California, the group backing competing measures that could weaken Proposition 40. Regan also said, “We don’t think any of these folks are going anywhere,” adding that fewer than 10 of them claimed to leave California.
