California Ballot Measure Targets Billionaires for $100 Billion Health Fund

California voters in November will decide whether to tax the state's wealthiest residents to backfill federal healthcare dollars, pitting a campaign for a new revenue stream against warnings of an exodus among those who would pay it.

Proposition 40 would levy a one-time 5% charge on the net worth of every billionaire living in the state, a group numbering just over 200 that includes Oprah Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg, Kim Kardashian and George Lucas. The measure would apply retroactively to anyone with assets of at least $1bn who resided in California as of 1 January 2026. Supporters project the tax would generate $100bn, money they want directed to healthcare programs facing cuts tied to President Donald Trump's tax and spending legislation.

Suzanne Jimenez of Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, which helped lead the campaign backing the measure, described it as a "short-term solution" and said: "If we do nothing, we're going to see a collapse of our healthcare system, while we figure out a longer-term solution to fund our healthcare." California holds the fourth largest economy in the world, behind only Germany, Japan and the US, and ranks first among states for both its homeless population and the size of its wealth gap.

Governor Gavin Newsom, whose tenure ends this year, opposes the proposal and has said the tax could push high earners, along with their income tax payments, out of state. Google cofounder Sergey Brin has donated more than $100m to a political organization funding ballot measures that could block it, the Los Angeles Times reports. A September poll by that newspaper and the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies put support at 45% of likely voters against 42% opposed, with 13% undecided. Passage requires a majority.

At least six billionaires have left California, among them Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, venture capitalist Peter Thiel, former Uber boss Travis Kalanick and Hankey Group founder Don Hankey. Hankey told Forbes he relocated to Nevada because of the proposal, saying it made him feel he was not "wanted" despite the jobs his companies created. Zuckerberg told Meta's board last month he was weighing a move of his primary residence; Meta agreed to a stock deal giving him additional shares to offset potential costs, and he could owe up to $12.5bn.

Some billionaires support the measure. Nvidia chief Jensen Huang told CBS: "I don't mind paying taxes. The more you make, the more taxes you pay. I'm okay with that." Senator Bernie Sanders told a Los Angeles rally that billionaires believe they have "a God-given right to rule" and predicted that "on November 3 they're going to learn a very powerful lesson". Washington state voters are also weighing a 9.9% tax on annual income over $1m.

US inequality sits near its highest level in over three decades, with the top 1% of households holding close to 32% of wealth in the third quarter of 2025. Some 72% of Californians say the gap between rich and poor is widening, and a similar share says state government should do more, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.