California’s ‘billionaire tax’ likely to be rejected as early count shows majority opposed [U.S. midterm elections]

[Financial News] In California, the proposed introduction of the so-called “billionaire tax,” intended to tax the ultra-wealthy, appears likely to fail.
According to the Los Angeles Times (LAT), the San Francisco Chronicle (SFC) and other outlets on the 3rd (local time), the vote on “Proposition 40” (Prop 40), which centers on imposing a wealth tax, appears to be heading for defeat, with about 53% of the votes counted and 43.5% in favor and 56.5% opposed.
The measure would impose a one-time tax of 5% of the assets of California billionaires with a net worth of at least $1 billion (about 1.34 trillion won) as of January 1, 2026.
The Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), a U.S. healthcare workers’ union, and others have said the roughly $100 billion in revenue raised this way should be used for healthcare assistance for low-income people, as well as education and food assistance, to make up for federal health funding cuts by the Donald Trump administration.
However, with Silicon Valley heavyweights, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin, strongly opposing the measure, and both current Governor Gavin Newsom (Democrat) and incoming Governor Javier Becerra (Democrat), whose election was confirmed this time, also opposed, it appears to have failed to win majority support.
Even among labor groups that proposed the measure in the first place, there are signs of division, with some unions opposing it. Members have also filed lawsuits and complaints against SEIU-UHW union president Dave Regan, which is expected to have contributed to the measure faltering.
Even if further counting puts the measure ahead, there are still more hurdles before the wealth-tax provision can actually take effect.
That is because the opposition group Building a Better California has put forward two countermeasures to neutralize the wealth tax.
Proposition 41 would prohibit new special taxes that circumvent state spending limits, while Proposition 42 would prevent the creation of a wealth tax on personal property and the imposition of retroactive taxes.
For the billionaire tax to be introduced, not only must more voters support Proposition 40 than oppose it, but its approval rate must also be higher than the approval rates for Propositions 41 and 42.
With about 52% of the vote counted for Proposition 41, opponents lead at 52.3%. For Proposition 42, which Governor Newsom supported, about 53% of ballots have been counted, and 54.6% have been found to be in favor.
In short, even if votes in favor of Proposition 40 reach a majority, it will be difficult to introduce the billionaire tax in practice if its approval rate is lower than that of Proposition 42.
As defeat looked increasingly likely, Regan signaled that he would try again in two years.

[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, international affairs correspondent Reporter