California’s proposed billionaire tax would retroactively tax net worth over $1 billion starting January 2026, forcing wealthy residents to leave or pay billions of dollars.

It’s a political earthquake. The wealthiest Californians are fleeing the state and taking their capital, resources and companies with them.

The SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, a statewide union of service employees in California, introduced a ballot measure called the Billionaire Tax Act, to implement a one-time 5% tax on the net worth over $1 billion on any California resident. The tax is on total net worth, not income, and would snag rich people who have the bulk of their wealth in stock or property.

The idea has yet to be voted on, and supporters of the measure will need nearly a million signatures by late June to get it on the ballot for November 2026.

Source: California billionaires flee state’s wealth tax in the most-predictable result ever