Amid rising costs, California and L.A. initiatives aim to tax the ultra-rich

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California has billionaires on the brain.Last week union activists, hoisting giant cutouts of money bags and a cigar-smoking boss, announced a proposal to raise Los Angeles city taxes on companies with “overpaid” chief executives.

They rallied in front of a symbol of the uber rich: the futuristic, steel-covered Tesla Diner owned by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man.Meanwhile, a “billionaire tax” proposal prompted some of the wealthiest Californians to consider fleeing the state, amid arguments that they would take their tax revenue — and the companies they run — with them, hurting the ordinary residents the proposal is designed to help.The focus on taxing the richest of the rich comes amid a growing affordability crisis in California, home to the nation’s most expensive housing market and highest income tax.More than 200 billionaires reside in California, more than any other state, according to a group of law and economics professors at UC Berkeley, UC Davis and the University of Missouri who helped draft the statewide billionaire tax proposal, which proponents are hoping to place on the November ballot.

And they are getting richer.The collective wealth of the state’s billionaires surged from $300 billion in 2011 to $2.2 trillion in October 2025, according to a December report by those professors.

In Los Angeles, where the median sale price of $1 million puts home ownership out of reach for many residents, prominent billionaires include David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Magic Johnson.California The proposal is sponsored by the “Fair Games Coalition,” a collection of labor groups that includes the Los Angeles teachers union.One conspicuous billionaire is especially unpopular in California: President Trump, who, despite campaigning on bringing down the cost of living, recently called the word “affordability” a “con job” as he redecorated the Wh...