A Democrat by the Billionaires, For the Billionaires
By 
Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed on Monday to stop a proposed wealth tax in California, saying that its mere introduction had already hurt the state by driving some billionaires to relocate and take their tax dollars with them.
Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, said in an interview with The New York Times that he had been relentlessly working behind the scenes against the proposal, and that he would fight the measure if it reached the November ballot.
“This will be defeated — there’s no question in my mind,” Mr. Newsom said.
“I’ll do what I have to do to protect the state,” he added.
The governor has long opposed a wealth tax because of concerns that it would stifle innovation in California, where the booming tech industry has sent state revenues soaring and driven the economy for years. Despite his opposition, tech influencers and conservatives have tried to pin the latest idea on Mr. Newsom, taking aim at a leading potential Democratic candidate for president in 2028.
In past years, he has quashed legislative wealth tax proposals by making it clear that he would not sign them into law. The issue has urgency now, though, because a large health care union is trying to place a new billionaire tax on the ballot.
The initiative would require Californians with a net worth beyond $1 billion to pay a one-time tax equal to 5 percent of their assets. It would apply retroactively to anyone who was living in California as of Jan. 1, and taxpayers could spread their payments across five years starting in 2027.
First, Newsom sucks, has always sucked, and will continue to suck, witty social media notwithstanding. Second, I wish I had the political savvy of Peter Thiel and Mark Zuckerberg and thought that the American public is going to be so outraged by tying a billionaire tax to a Democrat that they won’t vote for them on that principle. But hey, at least Newsom is playing along and allowing every single Democrat in the 2028 primaries–very much likely including billionaire J.B. Pritzker–to attack him for being a man of the elite.