{"slug": "why-a-vote-on-taxing-californias-billionaires-is-being-watched-around-the-world", "title": "Why A Vote On Taxing California’s Billionaires Is Being Watched Around The World", "summary": "California voters will decide in November on a one-off 5% wealth tax on billionaires, a measure that could raise US$100 billion for healthcare, food assistance, and public education. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has spent US$100 million opposing the tax, potentially avoiding a US$13 billion bill. The vote is being watched globally as similar wealth tax measures are considered in New York, the UK, and other US states, amid record inequality where workers' share of US economic output fell to 52.9% in 2026.", "body_md": "# Why A Vote On Taxing California’s Billionaires Is Being Watched Around The World\n\n*Support CleanTechnica's work through*[a Substack subscription](https://cleantechnica.substack.com/subscribe),[on Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/cleantechnica), or[on Stripe](https://cleantechnica.fundjournalism.org/contribute/). Help us produce all of the[high-quality, original content we publish week after week](https://cleantechnica.com/2026/07/14/10/)despite the challenges of content-scraping AI, antisocial media, inflation, and other hurdles.In November, California will vote on a proposal to levy a one-off 5% tax on the wealth of all billionaires in the state.\n\nGoogle co-founder and billionaire Sergey Brin has already [spent US$100 million](https://fortune.com/2026/08/11/google-cofounder-sergey-brin-california-wealth-tax-opposition-100-million-dollars/) on political donations to a group opposing the tax. Brin is hoping to avoid a potential tax bill of US$13 billion, a return of roughly 130 to 1 if that investment is successful.\n\nAdvocates of the billionaire tax [claim](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-01-18/rising-costs-california-la-initiatives-taxing-ultra-rich) it would raise US$100 billion in revenue, to be allocated directly to state-funded healthcare, food assistance and public education.\n\n[Supporters](https://www.seiu-uhw.org/ca-billionaire-tax-act/) of the union-backed proposal also highlight that most billionaires currently pay lower marginal rates of tax than the average worker, and that the revenue is desperately needed to fill gaps in funding created by US President Donald Trump’s cuts to Medicaid.\n\nIts critics, which include California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, [argue](https://fortune.com/2026/02/02/california-billionaire-tax-who-is-gavin-newsom-peter-thiel-donation/) the measure will drive billionaires and their tax revenue to leave the state.\n\n## Taxing the ultrawealthy\n\nSimilar measures targeting the ultrawealthy are currently under consideration around the world.\n\nIn New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has proposed a 2% income tax increase for those earning over US$1 million, and passed a property surcharge tax on second homes. Other US states — including [Washington state, Maine and Minnesota](https://www.foley.com/p/102mrda/tax-the-rich-additional-states-considering-and-enacting-taxes-targeting-high-net/) — have passed or are considering similar income or wealth tax measures.\n\nIn the United Kingdom, a group of 120 millionaires have launched a [“Proud to Pay” campaign](https://fortune.com/2026/07/24/120-millionaires-signed-letter-begging-british-government-tax-them-more-we-can-afford-it/) asking the government to levy an additional 2% tax on wealth over £10 million.\n\n## Spiralling global inequality\n\nBehind the public discussion of California’s billionaire tax lies a much deeper debate about spiralling global inequality.\n\n[Recent data](https://www.reuters.com/business/us-workers-share-gdp-skids-fresh-record-low-2026-08-06/) from the US shows the share of economic output flowing to workers has dropped to a record low of 52.9% in 2026. This means for every US$100 the economy produces, workers take home US$52.90 in pay, the smallest share since records began in 1947.\n\nSimilar [trends](https://www.ilo.org/resource/news/global-labour-income-share-declines-putting-upward-pressure-inequality-sdg) have been observed around the world.\n\nConversely, the wealth of billionaires has accelerated rapidly. As of 2026, * Forbes* reports a global record 3,428 billionaires.\n\nPerhaps most symptomatically, in June Elon Musk briefly became the world’s [first trillionaire](https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-13/visualising-elon-musk-trillion-dollar-wealth/106780212) after the public launch of SpaceX. His wealth now sits at around US$800 billion.\n\n## The causes of inequality\n\nSome blame globalisation for this explosion of inequality, but there are two other important related factors to consider as well.\n\nThe first is the global [decline of the trade union movement](https://www.nber.org/papers/w27193). With union membership and power declining around the world, the ability of workers to negotiate for better wages has declined.\n\nThe second is a trend of corporate consolidation into a small number of large “[superstar firms](https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/135/2/645/5721266).” These companies, which include tech giants like Alphabet, Amazon, and Uber, wield monopoly-like powers. This reduces competition and allows these firms to drive down wages.\n\nThe rise of artificial intelligence and automation will only accelerate these trends, enabling the largest firms to shed even more workers even as the firms’ output and profitability continues to climb.\n\n## Workers feel the crunch\n\nFor the last couple of decades, stagnating wages have been propped up by cheap access to credit. With central banks using [unconventional policies](https://www.rba.gov.au/education/resources/explainers/unconventional-monetary-policy.html) to keep interest rates low, household spending has remained largely stable, funded by an increase in household debt.\n\nHowever, with inflation rising, central banks around the world have [pushed up interest rates](https://www.macrotrends.net/2015/fed-funds-rate-historical-chart) from emergency lows during the pandemic, cutting off the source of cheap credit. With inflation rising faster than wages, the effect has been real declines in living standards.\n\nUnsurprisingly voters are unhappy at this “cost of living” crisis, and all over the world have turned away from [incumbents and established parties](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jan/30/western-political-parties-voters-turning-to-populists-research-tbi).\n\n## A jump to the left?\n\nIf the previous decade’s politics have been dominated by dissent on the right, many countries are now seeing the emergence of stronger dissent on the left.\n\nAfter Mamdani’s headline-grabbing victory in New York, Democratic Socialists have ridden [a wave of momentum](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/democratic-united-states-america-progressive-senate-vote-9.7302948) to win a series of primary races. Beyond the US, we can note left-independent Catherine Connolly’s election as Irish president, the rise of the Greens in the UK, and the recent resurgence of left-wing [Die Linke](https://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/analyses/2026-06-23/germany-new-face-die-linke) in Germany.\n\nThese different parties and leaders all share a focus on combating growing global inequalities of wealth and power. Billionaires, the most obvious and visible symbol of global wealth inequalities, are an obvious target.\n\nHowever, as California’s proposal shows, attempts to rein in the wealth and power of billionaires should expect furious backlash from billionaires themselves.\n\nIn addition to Brin’s US$100 million, other billionaire donors including Peter Thiel, Eric Schmidt and Chris Larsen have also spent significantly to oppose the tax. Brin’s campaign committee has also organised competing [ballot propositions](https://www.npr.org/2026/08/11/g-s1-138201/california-billionaire-tax-google-sergey-brin) which, if passed, would nullify the tax.\n\nFor now, [polling](https://www.ppic.org/publication/ppic-statewide-survey-californians-and-their-government-may-2026/) suggests the billionaire tax is supported by a majority of voters. More than 1.6 million Californians signed the petition to put the tax on the November ballot.\n\n## The future of wealth inequality\n\nCalifornia’s coming election will serve as an important test of the political power of the billionaire class, and the broader health of American democracy.\n\nYet even if the tax is successful, taxing billionaires only treats a symptom of global inequality, rather than addressing its underlying causes.\n\nA policy agenda for seriously addressing wealth inequality must also therefore include a much broader suite of measures. These might include improving workers’ bargaining power, breaking up monopolies and [public ownership of AI technology](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5343934).\n\nWithout these structural fixes, we should expect voter anger and the current political instability around the world to continue to escalate.\n\n*This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.*\n\n*By , Lecturer in Politics, Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney*\n\n*Sign up for*\n\n[CleanTechnica's Weekly Substack for Zach and Scott's in-depth analyses and high level summaries](https://cleantechnica.substack.com/subscribe), sign up for[our daily newsletter](https://mailchi.mp/cleantechnica/daily-newsletter), and[follow us on Google News](https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqLQgKIidDQklTRndnTWFoTUtFV05zWldGdWRHVmphRzVwWTJFdVkyOXRLQUFQAQ)!*Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? 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See our policy*\n\n[here](https://cleantechnica.com/cleantechnica-editorial-ethics/).[CleanTechnica's Comment Policy](https://cleantechnica.com/cleantechnica-comment-policy/)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-a-vote-on-taxing-californias-billionaires-is-being-watched-around-the-world", "canonical_source": "https://cleantechnica.com/2026/08/20/why-a-vote-on-taxing-californias-billionaires-is-being-watched-around-the-world/", "published_at": "2026-08-20 11:32:25+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-20 11:43:42.179149+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-policy"], "entities": ["Sergey Brin", "Gavin Newsom", "Zohran Mamdani", "Donald Trump", "Elon Musk", "SpaceX", "Forbes", "California"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-a-vote-on-taxing-californias-billionaires-is-being-watched-around-the-world", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-a-vote-on-taxing-californias-billionaires-is-being-watched-around-the-world.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-a-vote-on-taxing-californias-billionaires-is-being-watched-around-the-world.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/why-a-vote-on-taxing-californias-billionaires-is-being-watched-around-the-world.jsonld"}}