Authored by Thomas Savidge via The Daily Economy,
California voters will decide on Proposition 40, a proposal for "a one-time 5-percent tax on the worldwide net worth of individuals exceeding $1 billion," this November.
The measure's obligation reaches backward to January 1, 2026, so any billionaire who was a California resident this year could owe a tax on the value of covered assets on December 31, 2026. Californians are essentially being asked to approve a tax whose residency trigger has already passed, and whose tax base doesn't exist yet.
A cadre of Nobel Prize winners justify support of Proposition 40 as "modest relative to the gains made by billionaires, yet large enough to offset the federal cuts to Medicaid." Supporters of the proposition claim that the wealth tax can bring in $100 billion. A recent p
