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billionaire tax
Thousands of Layoffs at California Hospitals Underscore Calls for Billionaire Tax
"This is a direct threat to patient care across California," said the chief of staff at the union sponsoring the ballot measure.
Apr 01, 2026
The labor union leading the fight for California's billionaire tax on Wednesday pointed to recent reporting about hospital layoffs to make the case for the ballot measure, which would impose a one-time 5% tax on state billionaires' wealth to fund healthcare.
The Orange County Register reported last week that "the more than 400 hospitals statewide have already laid off more than 3,400 healthcare workers as of mid-March, with as many as 1,600 coming from Santa Barbara to Orange County and the Inland Empire area, according to a tally of layoffs provided by the state's Employment Development Department and data collected by Paul Young, senior vice president of public policy and reimbursement with the California Hospital Association of Southern California."
As the newspaper detailed, hospital executives "are hinting of a second wave of layoffs," citing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or HR 1, that congressional Republicans passed and President Donald Trump signed last summer. The law will cut about $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade, which is expected to significantly impact the state's Medi-Cal program that covers more than 15 million lower-income residents.
The Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Berkeley "estimates the Medi-Cal cuts could lead to a loss of 72,000 to 145,000 healthcare jobs throughout California, representing 3% to 5% of the state's 2.65 million healthcare positions," the Register noted. "These job losses include positions in hospitals, clinics, and home care."
The Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, the lead sponsor of the ballot measure that Californians are set to vote on in November, highlighted the reporting in a Wednesday statement. SEIU-UHW chief of staff Suzanne Jimenez declared that "this is a direct threat to patient care across California."
"When hospitals lose funding, they lose staff," Jimenez said. "And when they lose staff, patients face longer wait times, fewer services, and reduced access to lifesaving care. Without urgent action, communities across California will lose access to the care they depend on."
In the union's statement, Mayra Castañeda shared concerns about losing her job as an ultrasound technologist at a hospital in Lynwood, California. She said: "Every day I come to work thinking about my patients, making sure they get the care they need, that they feel safe, that they're not alone. Now, I'm also thinking about whether I'll still have a job next month."
"We're already stretched thin, and the idea that more staff could be cut is terrifying," Castañeda continued. "It doesn't just impact us as staff. It impacts every patient who walks through our doors. You can't keep taking resources out of healthcare and expect people not to suffer."
Opinion: Unlike billionaires, we don’t need mansions or yachts. We're just asking for health care that our families can rely on.www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
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— Billionaire Tax Now (@billionairetaxnow.bsky.social) April 1, 2026 at 3:40 PM
Experts estimate that, if passed, the billionaire tax ballot measure would raise about $100 billion from 2027-31 from California's 200 richest residents. Recent polling suggests the proposal is on its way to success.
It's drawn support from national progressive figures such as US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who last month partnered with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to introduce the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act. The bill would impose a 5% annual wealth tax and direct the revenue toward reversing GOP healthcare cuts from HR 1, expanding Medicare, building affordable houses, helping families pay for childcare, boosting teacher salaries, and sending direct payments to members of households making $150,000 or less.
Unlike the California ballot measure, that federal "tax the rich" bill and another introduced last month by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have no clear path to passage in the Republican-controlled Congress. However, hospital layoffs as a result of HR 1—which featured more tax giveaways for wealthy Americans—aren't limited to California.
According to a Public Citizen report released Tuesday, 446 hospitals across the United States could close or reduce services due to HR 1's cuts to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. The publication notes that these "hospitals collectively have 68,986 beds and served approximately 6.6 million patients in 2024. They employ approximately 275,458 direct patient care workers (this does not include nonmedical workers, such as administrative staff)."
Public Citizen researcher and report author Eileen O'Grady stressed that "Trump's cuts to Medicaid will hurt millions of low-income and disabled Americans, and will deepen financial strains that are already plaguing rural and safety-net hospitals—compromising their ability to deliver care, potentially leading many to close."
"Congress should take urgent action to restore all Medicaid funding cuts enacted by Trump and Republicans in Congress," O'Grady argued, "and should extend the enhanced premium tax credits for coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces."
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'The Current Tax Code Is Rigged,' Plus 6.2 Trillion Other Reasons to Tax America's Ultrarich
"My bill is about basic fairness and making the ultrawealthy pay their fair share," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren. "It's time for the government to stop listening to the richest of the rich and start working for working people."
Mar 26, 2026
Backed by dozens of lawmakers, advocacy organizations, and labor unions, a trio of congressional Democrats on Thursday reintroduced the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, which would generate an estimated $6.2 trillion in revenue over the next decade by imposing a wealth tax on US fortunes above $50 million.
As the lead sponsors, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), highlighted in a statement, that estimated revenue is "more than double the score of the bill when it was first introduced five years ago, and enough money to pay for investments like universal childcare, free community college, Medicare expansion, and more—without raising taxes on 99.85% of American households."
The reintroduction comes just months away from the midterm elections. Democrats are working to reclaim control of Congress from President Donald Trump's Republican Party, which last year used its slim majorities in both chambers to push through a budget package that gave more tax cuts to the rich while cutting social programs for working families.
"While multimillionaires and billionaires are getting richer and richer, families are getting squeezed by a rigged economy," said Warren. "My bill is about basic fairness and making the ultrawealthy pay their fair share. It's time for the government to stop listening to the richest of the rich and start working for working people."
Under the bill, the country's wealthiest 260,000 households would pay a 2% annual tax on fortunes valued at over $50 million and an additional 1% on the net worth of households and trusts above $1 billion. The legislation would also impose a 40% "exit tax" on ultrarich individuals who renounce their citizenship for evasion purposes and would give the Internal Revenue Service $100 million in new funding.
"As millions of families are struggling under the weight of inflation, tariffs, and rising gas prices, the richest billionaires continue to see their net worth grow. We live in the richest country in the world, but that wealth is incredibly concentrated in a tiny group of people. It's time to tax the rich and level the playing field to ensure that every American has a chance to succeed," said Jayapal.
"The Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act is a major step toward making sure the wealthy finally pay their fair share," she continued. "With this legislation, we can narrow the racial wealth gap and invest trillions of dollars in healthcare, schools, clean energy, housing, and more to improve lives in communities across America."
At the beginning of 2026, an Institute for Policy Studies analysis found that the total wealth of US billionaires surged to $8.1 trillion last year—and the country's top 15 billionaires saw their collective fortune grow from $2.4 trillion to $3.2 trillion, more than double the S&P 500's 16% increase in 2025.
In the months since, even a columnist at the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal acknowledged that "billionaires' low taxes are becoming a problem for the economy," and Peter Mallouk, the CEO of wealth management firm Creative Planning, suggested that US wealth inequality "is 100% completely unsustainable as a society."
Boyle declared Thursday that "a secretary shouldn't pay a higher tax rate than the CEO. The current tax code is rigged against working people and the middle class. Our proposal finally changes this and makes billionaires pay their fair share."
Today, I'm introducing my wealth tax — and more than 50 members of Congress are joining me. It’s time for the government to start working for American families, not just the ultra-rich.
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— Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) March 26, 2026 at 1:54 PM
Unions backing the bill include the American Federation of Government Employees; American Federation of Teachers; American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); Communications Workers of America; Service Employees International Union; and United Steelworkers.
"Anti-worker extremists in Congress and their billionaire backers are slashing safety net programs and rigging the tax code to make the ultrawealthy richer as working families are pushed closer to the brink," said AFSCME president Lee Saunders. "The working people who keep this country running shouldn't be the ones carrying a heavier tax burden than the richest 0.1%."
"It's past time billionaires paid their fair share, so we can invest in the public services that working people need—from childcare to healthcare to food support," he argued. "Congress must pass Sen. Warren and Rep. Jayapal's Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act now."
Other organizations behind the bill include Americans for Tax Fairness, Climate Hawks Vote, Groundwork Collaborative, Indivisible, MomsRising, Oxfam America, Patriotic Millionaires, People's Action Institute, Public Citizen, the Sunrise Movement, and more.
“The United States is capable of sustaining the rich, stable, and free economy and country the vast majority of Americans—regardless of political party—actually want. The only way to ensure we get there, though, is by building a tax system that puts a check on the extreme inequality that threatens our economy and our democracy," said Patriotic Millionaires chair Morris Pearl.
"Millionaires like me want less inequality because we and our families will be better off in a society with less economic disparity. And it's not because I'm good or altruistic. I am not any more altruistic than the next person, I'm just greedy for a different kind of country than some other rich people in America," he continued. "I'm willing to pay more in taxes if it means helping us become the kind of country I know we can be. The Patriotic Millionaires are proud to support the Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, and we urge Congress to act quickly to make this law."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) introduced another bill to tax the rich—the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act—earlier this month, but neither proposal is likely to advance in the GOP-controlled Congress.
However, as historian Lawrence Wittner highlighted in a Thursday opinion piece for Common Dreams, "campaigns for state tax-the-rich legislation are flourishing in California, Colorado, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, and Virginia, and have already succeeded in getting such legislation adopted in Massachusetts and Washington."
"Most Americans support proposals to raise taxes on the rich," he noted, citing a January poll that found 80% of Americans saw wealth inequality as a problem, 80% said the rich had too much political power, and 78% said taxes on billionaires were too low. Wittner concluded that "it's time to tax the rich."
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'This Is Not a Drill': Ad Promoting California Billionaire Tax Airs During Olympics
"Massive federal funding cuts will shut hospitals and emergency rooms forever because billionaires refuse to pay their fair share."
Feb 23, 2026
Organizers behind a proposed billionaire wealth tax in California aired their first campaign advertisement on the final day of the 2026 Winter Olympics over the weekend, styling the 30-second spot as an emergency alert warning of a looming healthcare catastrophe in the Golden State.
"This is not a drill," the ad says. "California healthcare is facing an emergency. Hospitals will close. Expect longer wait times and overcrowded emergency rooms. Massive federal funding cuts will shut hospitals and emergency rooms forever because billionaires refuse to pay their fair share. Prepare to make alternative plans for care, or vote yes to make billionaires pay their fair share."
Watch the ad:
The advertisement aired days after US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) headlined an event formally launching the push to get the proposed billionaire wealth tax on the California ballot in November amid intense opposition from the state's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, and some of its wealthiest residents.
If enacted, billionaires residing in California as of the start of 2026 would face a one-time 5% tax on their fortunes, and the revenue—around $100 billion, according to supporters—would go toward counteracting the impacts of federal cuts to Medicaid and nutrition assistance approved last summer by congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump. Proponents of the billionaire tax note that more than 3 million Californians could lose healthcare coverage if the state doesn't act.
Suzanne Jimenez, chief of staff at Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, which is leading the campaign for the wealth tax, said the new ad "underscores the choice California faces—more tax breaks for billionaires, or keeping our hospitals open."
"It’s important to alert as many Californians as possible to the healthcare collapse that is looming, because it’s preventable if billionaires pay something closer to their fair share,” Jimenez added.
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