In order to get their wealth tax proposal on the ballot this fall, supporters had to raise nearly 900,000 signatures. Over the weekend, the union behind this announced they had raised more than enough to qualify.
The labor union backing a proposal to place a new tax on California billionaires says it has collected enough signatures to place the measure on the state’s November ballot.
Supporters have collected more than 1.5 million signatures on petitions that call for a vote on the proposed tax, according to a statement from the campaign on Sunday. The group backing the measure intends to announce on Monday when it will submit the signatures to elections officials.
The signatures will still need to be verified after they are submitted.
After backers of the wealth tax submit the signatures they’ve collected, election officials will go through a verification process. If at least 875,000 signatures are valid, proponents of the measure have until late June to decide if they want to proceed with placing it on the ballot.
Some portion of the signatures will turn out to be false but with nearly double the number required, it's likely this will make in the ballot. The SEIU celebrated the news.
"Most Californians and most billionaires recognize how reasonable and necessary this proposal is — both to keep emergency rooms open and to save California businesses from closing," SEIU-UHW chief of staff Suzanne Jimenez said in a press release.
"A very small group of the most controversial billionaires on the planet tried to stop Californians from being able to save their local emergency rooms and hospitals — but our current signature tally proves frontline healthcare workers will prevail in bringing this commonsense proposal to voters," she continued. "When our growing coalition files these signatures, David will have won the first round against Goliath, but healthcare workers and our allies won’t quit until we fully protect our patients from the looming healthcare disaster that will be caused by $100 billion in cuts to California healthcare."
If approved, the ballot measure will still need to pass before it takes effect. Some Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom have opposed it so there's no guarantee it will pass. Still, the signatures suggest that blue voters are in a mood to tax the rich.
Even if this passes in November, there are still other hurdles the initiative might face. For instance, several rival initiatives have been set up by California's fleeing billionaires. These are designed to intentional conflict with the terms of the wealth tax. Under California law if two proposals pass with conflicting terms, only the one with the most votes takes effect.
In theory, this initiative is supposed to create a one-time tax of 5% of all wealth held by billionaires who were still in the state as of January 1, 2026. However, several of the states wealthiest billionaires have already left the state before the deadline, meaning that even if everything works out as supporters hope, this tax won't raise nearly as much as they projected.
Proponents of California’s wealth tax estimate it would raise $100 billion in one-time revenue, even if some billionaires leave the state because of the measure. The nonpartisan California Legislative Analyst’s Office forecasts tens of billions in upfront revenue but cautioned that the tax could cost hundreds of millions or more a year if some billionaires move elsewhere.
Additionally, the retroactive nature of the tax itself is likely to be challenged in court and could lose. That could create a window for additional billionaires to leave the state before November and still avoid the tax.
Will more billionaires head to Florida or Texas? We'll have to wait and see if this is tax measure winds up killing California's golden goose.
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