Bernie Sanders joins California labor groups’ fight against ‘billionaire class’

In true Bernie Sanders fashion, the U.S. senator from Vermont delivered a bold speech Wednesday to what he called the “kings and queens” of the top 1%, leading the campaign kickoff for a proposed California ballot measure that targets the state’s billionaires.

During the rally at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, Sanders, labor leaders and public health advocates came together calling on California’s wealthiest to “pay their share” in order to fund health care and education in the state.

“Let me thank the unions here in California for bringing to the forefront the most important economic and moral issue of our time,” Sanders said on Wednesday, adding “and that is the need for our country to finally confront the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we are currently experiencing.”

Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West and St. John’s Community Health in Los Angeles are co-sponsors of the initiative.

The proposed initiative would tax the total 2025 net worth of 200 billionaires in California, worth an estimated $2 trillion, by 5% and allow them to pay it off over five years. The revenue from the tax would total around $100 billion to be reinvested into state programs. 

“The billionaire class no longer sees itself as part of American society,” said Sanders. “They see themselves as something separate and apart … like the oligarchs of the 18th and 19th centuries, the kings and the queens and the czars, these guys literally believe that they have the divine right to rule and are no longer subject to democratic governance.”

In response to federal cuts due to the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” 90% of the generated revenue from the wealth tax would go into a special fund addressing Medi-Cal and health care cuts and 10% would be allocated to public education and food assistance.

Federal cuts will result in an estimated $30 billion in annual losses to Medicaid, known as MediCal in California, starting next year. 3.4 million people are expected to lose coverage as a result of federal changes to Medicaid eligibility.

Anticipated health care facility closures and reduced services could lead to nearly 150,000 health care jobs being lost, Renée Saldaña, press secretary for SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, told CALÓ News in December.

“At a time when this administration is gutting our health care, our safety nets and our public services, we’re here to protect Californians,” Dr. Jackline Lasola, an obstetrician, said at the rally. “It’s time to tax the billionaires.”

Jensen Huang, a resident of Silicon Valley and CEO of Nvidia, one of the backbones of the AI industry, said in January he is “perfectly fine” with the proposed tax.

The main argument against the measure is the notion that billionaires will simply leave the state to avoid the tax, and take with them the essential income tax they already pay that boosts the state’s revenue.

“California’s roughly 200 billionaires had until Jan. 1, 2026 to change their official state of residence in order to be ineligible for the proposed tax…” reads a news release from the campaign. “There is no evidence to contradict the fact that the vast majority of billionaires have remained in the state, despite having properties, companies and assets based in various states and countries.”

Governor Gavin Newsom has been close to Silicon Valley’s highest earners for years and has been an outspoken critic of the measure, consistently telling press who ask his opinion that the measure is shortsighted.

The governor has pointed to a December report from the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) that found while there would be a temporary state revenue increase from the tax, an ongoing decrease in the state’s overall revenue can be expected if billionaires do decide to leave the state.

“It’s one time resources for ongoing issues,” Newsom said in response to a reporter asking his opinion of the wealth tax during a press conference about Planned Parenthood funding. He added, “I have no issue with taxing people more that do well … we have an obligation nationwide to address that issue at a federal level but doing it at a state level, I think will lead to the kind of diminution of revenue that was highlighted in the LAO’s report.”

However, the way in which the measure is written makes it so the tax will be applied to any billionaire that still resided in the state as early as Jan. 1, even if they later move out of the state.