Union leader Dave Regan pledges another California billionaire tax for 2028

Proposition 40 proposed a 5% tax on people with wealth above $1.1bn

Dave Regan, president of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West and head of the union that led the campaign for Proposition 40, pledged to seek a California billionaire tax once more in 2028. On election night, Regan said the billionaires’ efforts to block the tax created “a lot of confusion and a lot of second-guessing among people who really in their hearts know what the right the thing to do is.”

BBC News reported from Los Angeles on 10 November 2026 that a vote projection showed California voters had rejected Proposition 40. It took nearly a week of counting ballots after the midterm election to determine the projection. The measure failed amid divisions among Democrats and labour unions.

Proposition 40 targeted Californians with wealth of more than $1.1bn (£800m) and would have levied a one-time 5% tax on their total wealth, including assets such as shares as well as income. California has about 200 billionaires, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Kim Kardashian and Oprah Winfrey. The ballot proposal was intended to help fund healthcare.

BBC News reported that the tax would have raised about $100bn to make up for federal funding cuts to healthcare in California as a result of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill.

Supporters argued that the measure would help ensure the ultra-wealthy contributed their fair share and would help backfill gaps in the state’s budget.

Had Proposition 40 passed, experts believed it would have been the world’s first wealth tax targeting billionaires.

The measure faced opposition from Google co-founder Sergey Brin, California Governor Gavin Newsom and labour unions. The Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West led the campaign for the proposal.

Newsom, whose tenure as governor was coming to an end, had expressed concern that the tax could cause wealthy residents to leave the state and drive out crucial income tax revenue.

Two other propositions on the ballot would have effectively reversed Proposition 40 even if the wealth tax had passed.

Some billionaire critics spent millions trying to defeat the measure, and a handful moved out of California to evade the possible tax. Brin gave more than $100m to a political organisation funding ballot measures that could block the tax, according to the Los Angeles Times.

California has some 23 million registered voters. It has the largest economy in the country and the fourth largest global economy. The state is also home to one of the highest concentrations of billionaires in the world and one of the highest wealth gaps.