Exclusive | California millionaires hatch escape plans over fears the billionaire tax wont stop at ultra-rich: wealth guru
Mere millionaires in California are now eyeing the exits over fears that a billionaire tax could be tweaked to target smaller fortunes, a tax advisor to the mega-rich revealed.The proposed 5% wealth tax on billionaires was just cleared for the November ballot this week — but California’s millionaires were already spooked about the ramifications of the controversial proposed levy, said David Lesperance, a tax advisor to high-net-worth families.Now the tax guru told The Post that it isn’t just billionaires hatching plans to potentially exit California over the controversial proposal, backed by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West and lefty pols like Vermont Sen.Bernie Sanders.“I started getting calls from people who are saying, ‘Oh, it could be permanent?'” Lesperance explained.The billionaire tax received more than a million verified signatures in qualifying for the November ballot, the secretary of state said this week — though Gov.
Gavin Newsom has been attempting to strike a deal with proponents to kill it entirely.Billionaire tax backers offered to reduce the levy to 2% in an open letter Thursday, but Newsom said he doesn’t support the compromise.Lesperance referenced comments from UC Berkeley professor and billionaire tax author Emmanuel Saez, who admitted in a debate last month that the proposed tax on the total assets of billionaires might not be a one-time thing.
“If there is another one, I don’t think it’s going to be a one-time tax.You can’t surprise billionaires more than once,” Saez said during a May 5 debate with Arthur Laffer.
The California Business Roundtable claimed in an April memo that the billionaire tax could be tweaked by the state legislature to include even middle-class California households.SEIU United Healthcare Workers West has strongly denied this, saying any amendments “cannot change the fundamental purpose of the act.” California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every da...