Newsom Rushes to Sink Billionaire Tax Before Deadline

Summary

Bloomberg's Eliyahu Kamisher reports on California Governor Gavin Newsom's rushed effort to kill a billionaire tax ballot measure before its June 25 deadline. The tax, backed by a healthcare union, seeks tens of billions to backfill federal health spending cuts. A rare coalition including billionaires, teachers, carpenters, and Planned Parenthood opposes it, citing budget instability and revenue allocation concerns.

• Governor Newsom is pressuring to withdraw the California billionaire tax from the ballot ahead of the June 25 deadline.
• The tax is designed to raise tens of billions of dollars to offset federal healthcare spending cuts.
• An unusual opposition coalition includes billionaires, teachers unions, carpenters, and Planned Parenthood.
• Opponents warn the onetime tax could destabilize the state budget and want more consistent, broadly distributed revenue.
• Billionaires fear the tax would apply to voting shares that have no financial value, threatening their control stakes.
• A possible compromise might involve directing state budget funds to healthcare, but the scale of the fiscal gap remains large.