By Megan Cerullo
Reporter, MoneyWatch
Updated on: April 27, 2026 / 1:42 PM EDT / CBS News
Proponents of a proposal to tax California billionaires say they have gathered enough signatures for the measure to appear on the November ballot.
The initiative, filed by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), which represents more than 120,000 California health care workers, would impose a one-time 5% tax on Californians with net worths of $1 billion or more. The union says it collected more than 1.5 million signatures, above the roughly 875,000 required to qualify.
Called the “2026 Billionaire Tax Act,” the measure is pitched as a way to prevent hospital and clinic closures across the state and to help fund public K–14 education and state food assistance programs. Organizers say the tax would raise about $100 billion over five years, according to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Backers note that about 200 billionaires in California hold roughly $2 trillion in collective wealth while paying an effective annual tax rate they say is below 1.5% of that wealth, far less than the effective rates many middle-class Californians pay. Opponents, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, warn the levy could harm the state economy and budget if it prompts wealthy residents to leave.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, a New York resident, criticized the proposal, saying wealth taxes “effectively represent an expropriation of private property and have many unintended and negative consequences.”
Suzanne Jimenez, chief of staff at SEIU-UHW and the lead sponsor, said Monday that despite efforts by what she called “controversial billionaires” to block the measure, the signature total shows frontline health care workers will win the first round to place the question before voters. She added that filing the signatures will be the first step, and the coalition will continue campaigning to protect patients from what she called a looming health care disaster tied to cuts in state health funding.
At a press conference announcing the milestone, proponents downplayed the idea of a billionaire exodus. “Many billionaires in California made their lives there. Those folks are not going to leave,” Jimenez said, though she acknowledged that a “little handful” of ultra-wealthy residents have reported moving out of state.