Newsom Comments On Proposed State Wealth Tax
We wrote Sunday about California’s proposed wealth tax, a scheme that would hit billionaires with a one-time five percent levy on their worldwide net worth, and the consequences are already coming into focus. Predictably, people who became billionaires by making smart decisions are not waiting around to see how this plays out.
They are moving their residences, shifting operations, and taking their capital elsewhere. The reported damage so far is staggering: at least a trillion dollars has already fled the Golden State. Among those reportedly heading for the exits are Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, whose combined net worth is estimated at roughly $518 billion. That is not a rounding error. That is an economic earthquake.
Newsom unloads on California wealth tax proposal: ‘Makes no sense’ https://t.co/XdBOl4Q7cu
— POLITICO (@politico) January 13, 2026
Governor Gavin Newsom, who has spent months acting like a man clearly preparing for a presidential run, now finds himself in the awkward position of pretending this looming disaster has nothing to do with him.
To his credit, he can read a political room, and he knows that openly embracing a billionaire wealth tax while harboring national ambitions would be toxic. So he is doing what polished politicians do best: loudly distancing himself from a policy born of the very political ecosystem he has spent years nurturing.
Speaking to Politico, Newsom called the proposal his “worst nightmare,” warning that this was exactly what he feared would happen. He insisted he has opposed the idea and claimed to have worked behind the scenes to stop it.
He even suggested that while California’s version is bad, a “national conversation” about wealth taxes might still be worthwhile. That line alone speaks volumes. Californians are watching real money, real jobs, and real investment leave their state, and the governor’s answer is to float the idea of spreading the damage nationwide.
NEWSOM AGAINST WEALTH TAX IN CALIFORNIA
“You can't isolate yourself from the 49 [other states]. We're in a competitive environment. People have this simple luxury particularly people of that status. They already have two or three homes outside the state. It's a simple issue.… pic.twitter.com/JCJKJDzi30
— Ron Pragides (@mrp) December 27, 2025
The irony is hard to miss. The wealth tax proposal is backed by SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, part of the same public-sector union apparatus that has bankrolled Newsom’s political rise for years. This is not some fringe group operating outside his orbit. This is his base. He may now be clutching his pearls and calling the idea “really damaging to the state,” but he has been steering California’s high-tax, high-spending ship for seven years. The environment that produced this proposal did not materialize out of thin air.
Newsom’s sudden skepticism also rings hollow given his record. He has never met a tax increase he did not enthusiastically support, at least until it threatened to collide with presidential optics. Strip away the ambition and the poll-tested language, and there is little reason to believe he would oppose this measure if he were not eyeing a national stage.