Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) is calling for the United States to adopt a national billionaire tax and a public equity fund ensuring that every American owns a part of what Newsom called “future being built by AI.”
Newsom wrote on Substack that he is “voting no” on a wealth tax measure heading to the California ballot. Rather than supporting a state-level wealth tax, the governor said he supports a “national billionaires’ tax.”
“A true minimum tax on billionaires — a modern Buffett Rule — that ensures the people at the very top pay at least the tax rate their own workers pay,” he explained. “Today, the office worker can shoulder a higher tax rate than the heiress. The construction worker could pay a higher rate than the developer. And the delivery driver can end up paying a higher rate than the founder of the company whose packages he delivers.”
“Trickle-down economics has been a nearly 50-year experiment that has failed,” Newsom argued. “We have the data now: Record corporate profits flowed into stock buybacks and executive compensation. Workers’ real wages stagnated, and vibrant middle-class communities were hollowed out. It is time to stop pretending otherwise.”
The governor noted that automation could “create unfathomable growth,” and went on to suggest that “every American owns a stake in the future being built by AI through a national public equity fund that takes a major stake in the new economy.”
Should the nation adopt such a policy and rewrite the federal tax code, Newsom wrote, it would be a “once-in-a-century chance to renew the American Dream by funding universal child care, making higher education and career training free, funding healthcare, and making a down payment on a real industrial policy for the AI century.”
Newsom’s proposal comes as he is expected to launch a presidential campaign. In October, Newsom told CBS Sunday Morning that he would be “lying” if he said he was not thinking about a 2028 run. I’d just be lying. And I’m not — I can’t do that.”
