Gavin Newsom fails to stop Californias controversial billionaire tax from going to voters

Gov.Gavin Newsom failed to broker a last-minute deal to keep California’s controversial billionaire tax off the November ballot, setting up what could become one of the nation’s most expensive and politically explosive ballot fights over taxing the ultra-wealthy to cover federal health care cuts.“Ironically, Gov.

Newsom is in lockstep with [President] Donald Trump and billionaires like Peter Thiel and Sergey Bin on this issue,” Debru Carthan, vice president for SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, said during a news conference Thursday evening.The labor union leading the charge to impose a one-time 5% tax on residents whose net worth exceeds $1 billion.“Gov.

Newsom has had seven months to put forward a solution to prevent hospital from closing and save patient lives, but he hans’t — because Gov.Newsom has no plan,” Carthan said.Newsom had vowed to stop the billionaire tax from passing, but the collapse of negotiations involving the governor’s chief of staff, Nathan Barankin, and SEIU-UHW, the health care union led by bare-knuckle political brawler Dave Regan, will now require the governor to expend an incredible amount of political capital. The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Voters will be forced to decide whether California should impose an unprecedented wealth tax, which supporters say is needed to offset looming federal health care cuts as a result of President Trump and Republican’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”Newsom, business groups like the Chamber of Commerce and the State Building and Construction Trades Council, have warned that the measure could accelerate the flight of billionaires, investors and startups already leaving the Golden State.Earlier this month, CalChamber issued a statement saying the “unprecedented wealth tax is not only misguided but creates a dangerous precedent that will cause more problems than it would ever solve.”Newsom refused to back down last week after organizers be...