From Washington Examiner: The Golden State prides itself on its egalitarianism and willingness to make some of the rich in California squirm.
This desire to take billionaires down a notch is evidenced by the “wealth tax” currently generating debate among financial pundits and gathering signatures in an aggressive ground game before a November vote, if it makes the ballot. The wealth tax proposal has a strange side effect: it boosts the wealthiest cream of the crop and punishes those below them. After all, there’s pride as well in being one of the special few who can manage to keep their heads above water in a political environment that punishes wealth creation.
Take San Francisco: the city’s population growth has been more or less flat over the last few decades, yet its wealth has positively exploded. Just spit-balling: for every three slightly above-average citizen profiles the city bleeds, it gains one high-income, far above-average human capital powerhouse with an advanced degree.
The 2026 Billionaire Tax Act, a one-time tax on capital assets, will benefit wealthy individuals who can afford it, giving them a competitive advantage over those who relocate to avoid the tax.
This aligns with economist Robert H. Frank’s view that economic success, like natural selection, favors those with advantageous traits.
The wealth tax is not only driving away billionaires, but deterring billionaires and aspiring billionaires from moving to California.
Unless the tax is defeated and future such taxes are constitutionally banned, California's growth trajectory will be permanently lowered. pic.twitter.com/HxwCI74B8O
— Marc Joffe (@marcjoffe) February 1, 2026
California’s wealth tax will follow the same pattern as every other tax:
1. target “just the rich”
2. set a precedent
3. expand to everyone else
Except this tax is even more corrupt because it allows the state to seize *assets* not just income
In 1913, only the 1% paid… https://t.co/12EDl0oeWF pic.twitter.com/N8d1xIQgt7
— Arthur MacWaters (@ArthurMacwaters) January 16, 2026
Tax
Read more at Washington Examiner
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