Health & Gender Policy Brief #185 | Mindy Spatt | February 13, 2026
Summary
A proposed billionaire tax authored by a powerful healthcare workers union could go to the voters in California if the sponsors can collect the requisite number of signatures to qualify for the ballot. Even before it has, powerful politicians and tech billionaires are divided, some supporting it, others organizing against it and willing to spend millions to do so.
Analysis
Silicon Valley’s ultrawealthy tech billionaires are in a frenzy over how to protect their assets from a proposed California ballot measure that would tax their billions, some even pulling up stakes and moving to states they perceive as friendlier to the outrageously wealthy. Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, a union representing more than 120,000 healthcare workers, is advocating for a one-time tax of up to 5% on taxpayers and trusts with assets valued over $1 billion, including businesses, securities, art, collectibles, and intellectual property.
The tax would mostly go toward making up the shortfall in the state’s healthcare budget caused by Trump’s cuts in funding for Medicaid and Affordable Care Act subsidies. Ten percent would be allocated to public K-14 education and food assistance programs.
An estimated 240 billionaires live in the Golden State, more than in any other state. Their number has grown recently due to the booming AI industry centered in the Bay Area. Their combined wealth is reportedly $2.1 trillion. That is almost as much as the combined wealth of all 54 countries in Africa, although the continent holds 30% of the world’s mineral resources needed for the electronics that drive billionaire wealth, it only nets 10% of the wealth it generates. Potential tax bills if the initiative goes into effect range from less than $50 million all the way to $13 billion.
The tax is dividing democrats in California, especially its two likely presidential contenders. Congressman Ro Khanna, whose district includes Silicon Valley, where many tech billionaires are based, is a progressive democrat who has already come out in favor of the one-time tax. Governor Gavin Newsom, whose national ambitions are well known, as are his deep ties to the tech industry, strongly opposes the tax, saying it would result in billionaires leaving the state and loss of tax revenues.
According to California’s Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance, the impact of the initiative, should it be voted into law, would be a “temporary increase in state revenues” that “probably would add up to tens of billions of dollars spread over several years. There also would be an ongoing decrease in state income tax revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars or more per year.”
Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have reportedly purchased homes outside of California and have also donated millions to efforts to kill the proposal, along with investors Peter Thiel, Ron Conway, David Sacks, and others. A newly formed political action committee called Building a Better California will deploy funds to back anti-proposal candidates and other initiatives across the state. The group, which has 501(c)(4) nonprofit status, has already raised $35 million, led by a $20 million donation from Brin.
Proponents of the billionaire tax insist that the fear of “ultra-wealth flight” is unfounded, pointing to studies showing continued wealth growth in Massachusetts and Washington state after they raised taxes on high earners. And not all billionaires are opposed. NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang, who lives in the Bay Area, told Bloomberg TV. “I’m perfectly fine with it.” And SEIU has picked up support from the influential Teamsters union. Still getting the initiative to the ballot will be a struggle with the states’ wealthiest and most powerful forces uniting against it.
Engagement Resources
California Billionaire Tax Act, SEIU-UHW, https://www.seiu-uhw.org/ca-billionaire-tax-act
California’s 2026 Wealth Tax Fight: Who Supports And Who Opposes The Ballot Measures, John Mulholland, Jan. 27, 2026,
https://pro.stateaffairs.com/ca/taxes/californias-tax-revenue-soars-fueled-by-booming-tech-industry