Campaigners behind the one-time 5% billionaires wealth tax in California are calling out what they describe as trickery and deception by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who on Friday released a proposal for a national billionaire’s income tax even as he actively opposes the effort to tax the wealth of billionaires in the state that he and his party currently control.
“Newsom does not want to tax billionaires,” said the Billionaire Tax Now campaign in a statement, “but he wants you to think he does.”
As Common Dreams reported Friday, critics of Newsom warn that the governor thinks “he can fool everyone” with his proposal for a national tax on the income of billionaires while simultaneously opposing a wealth tax headed for a referendum vote in November designed to fill a massive healthcare funding gap in the state created by the budget bill passed by Republicans and signed by President Donald Trump last year.
The tax proposed in California is a one-time thing. Any billionaires that end up paying it will almost certainly see their wealth increase by what they paid and then some by the time Newsom is in a position to implement a national tax (and he probably won’t do it). Newsom’s tax is not a reason not to go ahead with California’s tax.