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Gavin Newsom urges a national 'billionaires' tax' while fighting one in California
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2026
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Except he's right, millionaires are tied to billionaires, billionaires leave and the millionaires that are actually paying taxes will also leave.
The wealth tax needs to be something every state calls for. It can't just be some states.
You are getting downvoted, but you are correct.
Suppose California passes this - people will just set up in another state. Playing one state off of another this way is a losing proposition.
It needs to be at the federal level - you should not be able to set up your primary residence or nexus of business in another state and flee all responsibility to your country just because that state has whored itself out as a "business-friendly" one.
If they're not paying taxes, why would anyone want them to stay?
Because that money was extracted, in large part, from the California working class. Billionaires shouldn't be able to just leave, they should be forced to pay their due to whoever they got their money from.
To say there's no precedent is ridiculous. We're talking pennies when compared to the national debt. If we see this tax and more coming from California and California alone then yes they will just leave.
I think you're responding to the wrong person. I agree with everything you said, and it doesn't align with what I posted at all.
They dont leave. That is a myth.
Except this is not supported by evidence at all did any of those who promised to actually leave nyc after Mamdami won for example?
Oh, I didn't realize Mamdani had taxed the billionaires in NY the same way.
Also, yes — 6 billionaires left California over the proposed tax. Sure, there are plenty left and it's not like they totally broke California as a result — to say it's unfounded is sort of ridiculous though.
In 2023, there were 188 billionaires in California. That number's probably much higher now, since the ultra-rich have gotten much fatter under Trump at the expense of everyone else.
So we're talking about 3% who claim they're fucking off because of the proposed tax? And it's questionable whether they left or just said they would, and also if their stated reason was the real one.
So: not unfounded, just a grossly exaggerated impact.
And none of the rest of us realized you had a point. Well, a cogent one at least.
To make a blanket statement about them leaving as a group is just as ridiculous.
I'm not of the opinion that Rome was built in a day, or that it fell in a day.
Those aren’t the same wealth class.
Billionaires and millionaires generally like being around infrastructure and companies. Something that only left leaning states tend to excel at.
They have not been shown to leave in any great enough amount to actually matter. Unless you have something other than just 6 billionaires leaving CA?
I don't know the tax laws, but how many can set up their "primary" address in some other state (like Wyoming, which has the county with the wealthiest income in the country) and dodge all/most of California's taxes?
Nothing has happened yet and 6 billionaires have already left California.
6 is nothing in a state like CA.