Gavin Newsom’s anti-Zohran moment: the California billionaire tax that splits the Democratic Party down the middle

Gavin Newsom’s stance against California’s proposed “Billionaire Tax Act” has exposed a rift in the Democratic Party, with the erstwhile progressive governor taking a stance on the side of wealth and implicitly against the wing of his party that has claimed billionaires shouldn’t even exist. Where New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has built a national profile off an unabashed “tax the rich” message, Newsom is staking out an explicitly anti-wealth-tax position, an important moment with Newsom a presumed frontrunner of the 2028 presidential nomination.​

The fight centers on the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act, a ballot initiative that would impose a one-time 5% levy on the assets of anyone in California worth more than $1 billion, affecting roughly 200 ultrawealthy residents. Unlike an income tax, the measure would require billionaires to tally up their total wealth and cut a big check to Sacramento if voters approve it in November.​

Labor unions and health advocates backing the measure promise tens of billions of dollars for schools, food assistance, and health programs in a state with some of the country’s starkest inequality. Supporters frame it as a one-time recalibration of the social contract, not an annual raid ...