EDITORIAL: California billionaires are welcome in Nevada

A California labor union is pushing a tax so foolish that even Gov. Gavin Newsom is opposed to it.

Last month, leaders of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West and St. John’s Community Health filed the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act. It’s a California ballot measure that would impose a one-time wealth tax on billionaires. The measure is projected to bring in $100 billion. The money would go toward funding California’s Medicaid program, with 10 percent set aside for education. Proponents say the money is needed to offset reductions from President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.

This isn’t a higher income or property tax on the state’s wealthiest residents. It is a wealth tax that would hit every asset, including unrealized stock gains and property.

“It would be the first-in-the-world tax like this on the superwealthy,” Emmanuel Saez, an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said. He helped the union develop its plan. He hopes this proposal “would be an example for the world, to be imitated in many places.”

It certainly would provide an example — on the reality of unintended consequences. Mr. Saez and those who think like him remain oblivious to the fact that the world is dynamic. People respond to changing circumstances and even the possibility of future changes.

The SEIU may not realize this, but people are free to leave California. Millions already have. Billionaires are better positioned than most to do so.

California has around 250 billionaires, according to The Wall Street Journal. If any of them start looking for a new home, Nevada would be a great option. As the recent special session shows, the governance here isn’t perfect, but it is markedly better than in California. Nevada doesn’t have a personal or corporate income tax. A wealth tax isn’t a realistic possibility either.

Nevada would also benefit from billionaires moving here. At least when they aren’t being subsidized to come, wealthy individuals boost the economy through their business ventures and personal spending. This creates more job opportunities.

This proposal — and if you believe this confiscation scheme will be on a “one-time” hit, we’ve got beachfront property in Gabbs to sell you — has a real downside risk for California. The state’s tax system is incredibly top-heavy. “More than one-third of the state’s tax revenue comes from the top 1 percent of earners,” the Journal reported.

Given this, it makes sense that Gov. Newsom opposes the measure. Behind his class-warfare rhetoric is an understanding that California needs millionaires and billionaires in his state. The alternative is fiscal ruin.

If wealthy Californians ever get tired of being treated like a piggy bank, they are welcome to move to Nevada.