Union knows who’d really pay for California ‘billionaire tax’

There are cracks in the foundation of labor support for the California “billionaire tax” headed for the Nov. 3 ballot. 

Good. 

In a nod to reality, the president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council says billionaires produce sports arenas and other large projects that put tradesmen to work.

“[W]hat we believe would happen is these individuals would leave California and would take these investments to other states — losing the jobs for our members,” Chris Hannon said.

Bingo.

And the exodus/job loss dynamic would not only hit construction; it would batter industries statewide, from technology and entertainment to philanthropy, retail and more.

The damage from the tax –– which would slap a onetime 5% levy on any state resident whose net worth exceeds $1 billion, retroactive to Jan. 1 –– is already here.

Billionaires with combined fortunes exceeding $500 billion have fled the state, thanks to the wealth-tax scheme. 

And they’ve taken about 30% of the state’s aggregate billionaire wealth with them, per research from Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

That hardly bodes well for a state that’s disproportionately reliant on rich taxpayers and faces multibillion-dollar budget shortfalls as it is.

Wealth flight, job losses and deeper state deficits are just the start, and for what?

For greed. 

The wealth tax is a self-serving cash grab by the SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, one of the many unions that all but run Sacramento. 

SEIU-UHW’s mulish president, Dave Regan, appears to care nothing for the larger fallout in California, so long as he can pad his union’s pockets at public expense.

(Regan collected total compensation of about $400,000 in 2023, per ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer, a nonpartisan database based on public IRS filings.)

The union says that proceeds from the billionaire tax would offset lower federal spending on state-federal health programs such as Medi-Cal. 

But really, the “cuts” enacted by Congress and the president reflect common-sense policy, including work requirements, modest premiums for access to medical care, and eligibility checks for those enrolled in a program meant to serve the poor.

No matter; that still means less money might flow to the voracious union that represents 120,000 health care workers in California. 

Of course, if the wealth-tax ploy works, what happens to the rest of us?

We pay.

Once the initial onetime levy on billionaires is collected and spent on raises and perks for union members, what then? Pressure on other taxpayers to prevent dire “cuts,” of course.

After the precedent of taxing personal net worth is set, what’s to stop the state from expanding that tax to millionaires, and, over time, on down the chain to the middle class?

There’s also this: Once billions in income tax receipts are gone, thanks to the wealth tax, who will be left to cover holes and keep the state’s general fund afloat? Oh, that’s right, the rest of us.

So it’s good to see cracks in labor’s support for this farce.

It’s imperative that voters understand the stakes, and reject the wealth tax in November.

Because make no mistake: If the billionaire tax passes, the entire state will pay.