Apr 27, 2026
As of today, per the New York Times, California’s Billionaire Tax Act has officially collected 1.5 million signatures — well past the 875,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot. California’s Secretary of State still has to certify it, but voters will likely decide in November whether to enact the first-of-its-kind tax.
If passed, every resident of California valued over $1 billion (as of January 1st, 2026) will be subject to a five percent tax on their net worth. Illiquid assets are part of the calculation, meaning founders with wealth tied up in company equity may be forced to sell shares to pay the tax. And it’s not great for startup founders, who may have to relinquish control of their company — because voting share, not economic share, could be used to determine their net worth.
Proposed by the SEIU-UHW healthcare workers union, 90 percent of the new revenue collected by the tax will (surprise) be earmarked to fund healthcare initiatives in California. Supporters claim it’s a necessary “one-time” tax to offset Trump’s cuts to the state’s Medi-Cal (Medicaid) program.
The bill has already made people leave the state. The Hoover Institution found that “six billionaires publicly departed California between the initiative’s filing and the…residency snapshot date…removing $536 billion…from the tax base.” Factoring in permanently lost income tax revenue, the study estimates the wealth tax will make California $25 billion poorer on net. The Hoover Institute also notes that the ballot proposition “amends the state constitution to lift California’s cap on taxes on intangible personal property… establishing constitutional infrastructure on which future wealth taxes could be built.” So, it’s a “one-time” tax for now, but likely not for long.
California has the highest marginal income tax rate in the nation. It certainly doesn’t have the best results. The state ranks fifth in homelessness per capita (not including DC), has seen net negative migration for the past two decades, and it’s estimated that billions of dollars in California’s tax revenue has been lost to fraud and corruption.
A tax on assets fundamentally destroys private property rights — and once Pandora’s box is opened, the government will have license, and precedent, to violate private property on a whim. Senator Bernie Sanders and Silicon Valley’s Representative Ro Khanna have already introduced the federal version: the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act, a five percent annual wealth tax on every billionaire in the country.
Eating the rich is on the ballot in California. November will determine if voters are hungry to destroy the state. Pirate Wires has been covering this since the very beginning, long before it became national news — here, a recap:
Solana’s first breakdown of the wealth tax, written long before anyone was paying attention. A primer on why a tax on assets is no standard tax, but the end of private property as we know it.
Solana lays out how the Billionaire Tax Act could cripple the tech industry by specifically targeting the concept of founder-controlled companies.
Exclusive interviews with 21 billionaires about how they’re responding to the potential asset seizure (they are fleeing).
Our deep investigation into the wealth tax’s creators and origins — both the union that proposed it and the academics who have been obsessed, for decades, with taxing unrealized gains. Their rationale is less “save the poor” than countering billionaires’ control over “prevailing ideology.”
In February, a few billionaires mounted a defense, of sorts: counter-ballot props. Here, a look at how they work, and what they aim to do.
Robert Reich, champion of the wealth tax, has built a lucrative career collecting taxpayer dollars to peddle anticapitalist rhetoric. And, as Alastair John Pitts reports here, he's also secretly a NIMBY who has opposed affordable housing in his neighborhood.
We sent Riley Nork to go undercover as an official signature collector for the California Billionaire Tax Act. Here, his insights following an afternoon of harassing patrons outside Trader Joe’s (aka investigative journalism).
The Billionaire Tax Act isn’t about healthcare, budgeting, or even plain ole money. As Solana argues here, it’s about power — and the goverment’s attempt to wrest control from wealthy businessmen, the only check against left-wing power in the country.
Well, billionaires — now that I’ve warned everybody — please invite me to your housewarming parties at your newly fortified compounds in Florida. Thanks in advance.
—Evan Milenko
pirate wires #151 // parasitic radical leftists and california healthcare unions (but I repeat myself) are working on a wealth tax that would end the concept of private property
I spoke with 21 billionaires about california’s unprecedented asset seizure ballot proposition. here: their plans to leave, their efforts to fight back, and the future of tech in california
an exercise in investigative journalism™, volunteer activism, and getting ghosted outside trader joe’s
the union who sponsored the proposal is trying to scale. the academics who wrote and influenced it are trying to counter billionaires' control over 'prevailing ideology'
a union thug and his cabal of communist academics have awoken a sleeping giant: behold, your first look at the billionaire counterattack in the war for california’s future
robert reich, 4'11" champion of california's 'wealth tax,' has built a lucrative career collecting taxpayer dollars to peddle anticapitalist rhetoric (he's also secretly a nimby)