Transcription
Billionaires flee California, and a lot of them are liberal billionaires. Coming up, we'll tell you how the Democrat politicians' plans for major tax hikes in 2026 are likely going to backfire, creating an even worse budget crisis facing California.
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I'm Carl Deayo, chairman of Reform California and a California state representative. And we're going to be talking about something the Democrat politicians are calling a billionaire's tax, but it's really not a billionaire's tax. They're coming for you. You know that this is not about billionaires. It's always about getting anyone's money they can possibly grab. And typically, when Democrats raise taxes, they talk about billionaires paying those tax increases, but it's always the little guy getting stuck with the bill. And that's what's happening right now with a so-called proposed wealth tax proposal that is being backed by some of the uh biggest names in Democrat politics here in California.
I'll tell you about the wealth tax proposal in just a moment, but I'm inviting you to join us in the fight to save Prop 13 and block all the tax hikes in 2026, including the wealth tax proposal, by getting involved in the Reform California campaign to save Prop 13 and block tax hikes. You can go to the website opposehikes.org. opposikes.org. And on that website, you can um download a petition, the Save Prop 13 petition. Uh we need to get a million signatures to put this on the ballot to make it harder for politicians to raise our taxes at the state and local levels. Uh what you need to do is download, print, sign, and mail back the petition as soon as you can at oppose taxhikes.org. While you're on that website, please chip in a contribution, put gas in the tank so that we can stop the tax increases uh that are being put on the ballot up and down the state of California in the 2026 midterm.
I'm going to talk about the uh the so-called wealth tax uh that Democrats are proposing, but it's only one of many tax increases that they have slated for 2026. Um I want to touch on those very briefly. uh and the billionaires that have just announced that they're leaving the state of California and the impact that this is going to have on the state's budget and why you, the average Californian, will actually end up paying the price for the so-called billionaire's tax. Um, and we bring you stories that the liberal media won't bring you here on this show. So, just a reminder, please like this video so more people hear about it. Subscribe to this channel so that you get the updates every day at five o'clock when we post a new episode.
Um, so the tax hikes that the Democrats are proposing this year, most of them have to deal with property tax hikes, and that would be paid for by you, not billionaires. They've got something called a property transfer tax scheme going on up and down the state of California. Uh this is where when you sell your home, you will be taxed a rake on the value of the sale. Not your equity, but the entire value of the sale. Think of it as though government, with the property transfer tax, is getting a real estate commission. That's right. You sell your home, boom, you get the real estate agents taking a commission, but the government wants a five or 6% rake at the very beginning. Uh and it's non-negotiable. It goes in the black hole of their u bloated, wasteful uh state and local budgets. Uh but they're also proposing the garden variety sales tax hikes this year. They also are raising your utility rates with hidden taxes and fees on your utility bill. Obviously, the gas taxes on autopilot. They've got the cap and trade tax which they just extended. Uh again, they're not um subjecting it to a a vote of the people. um uh they're just raising your taxes on uh almost everything you buy. And and then of course, they've got these specialty taxes such as a mileage tax. Oh yeah, they are looking at imposing a mileage tax in the state of California, and that's one of the big tax increases that we're guarding against uh this cycle and next cycle.
One of the ways that we can stop the tax increases of all forms. Number one thing we can do, break the Democrat supermajority in Sacramento. If you take away their two-thirds supermajority, they can't just vote to increase taxes. They can't put constitutional amendments on the ballot. uh if they don't have a two-thirds uh supermajority. That's why Reform California is recruiting, training, endorsing, and supporting candidates up and down the state to pick up the seven remaining seats we need to break the Democrat supermajority hold in Sacramento. Check out reformc california.org for a list of the target seats that we're going after uh and to help those candidates win those races.
Um, let's talk about the billionaire's tax. Now, the billionaire's tax is what they call a one-time taking of uh billionaires' assets. It It's not their net wealth. Uh it's not even wealth that actually really exists for most of these billionaires. Most billionaires have a net worth that's on paper, but it's because they hold shares in their companies, but they're not selling the shares because they're growing their companies. And some of them are actually not allowed to sell shares for different reasons relating to their ownership and regulation by uh various investors and and and the government. And so uh these billionaires might be in in essence um uh worth uh billions on paper, but they might only have access to certain amount of liquid uh cash. Well, this initiative says we don't care whether it's real or on paper. We're just going to take an assessment of what these billionaires are so-called worth.
What's that going to result in? Well, if the tax gets levied on billionaires, two things will happen. First, it's a wealth tax or what I call a savings tax. And so, this would be in addition to the gas tax, the car tax, the sav the the sales tax, the property tax, and regular income taxes. And just like in the tw 1910s when the income tax was originally invented, uh the politicians at the time said, "Oh, only the very, very rich will pay an income tax. No one else gets has to pay an income tax." But can we have permission to create a whole new form of taxation called an income tax? Well, in California, California will be the first state to create a wealth tax or as I call it, the savings tax. Once they create a function of taxation, a brand new form of taxation, how long do you think it's going to be before they go after you? Oh, they say today, "Oh, we're not coming after you." No, you're not going to have to pay that tax. It's a lie. They just want to create the new form of tax and then they will amend the details to include more and more people with each passing day, each passing cycle. More and more people will have to pay a savings tax. What What do you have in your 401k? What do you equity do you have in your home? What do you have in your bank account? Oh, yeah. That's a net net savings tax. It's a wealth tax. What are you worth? It would include all forms of what you hold in terms of value.
So, the first thing is you're going to be ending up paying this because they're just once they get it approved by calling it the billionaire's tax, they're going to expand who has to comply with it. Second thing that's going to happen though is you're going to end up paying because you think the billionaires are going to stay in California. Hells no. They see this thing coming and they've decided, well, if California is going to create a billionaire's tax, if we're not residents of California, we're not going to be subjected to it. And that's exactly what has transpired in the last two weeks that this tax proposal has gained steam. And it looks like it's headed for the ballot in 2026. Bunch of billionaires have said, "We're out the door."
So, here is the uh the headline. "The possibility of a billionaire tax in California prompts tech giants to flee." The proposal obviously is a 5% one-time rake on anyone with a net worth over a billion dollars. They say, "Well, we're only talking about several hundred people having to um uh uh pay pay this tax." Well, that's where it starts out. So, these billionaires have decided, "We're not waiting around." In fact, Larry Page says that he's gonna leave the state of California. And there's a picture there of uh Peter Thiel, who's also a billionaire, who said he's leaving the state of California. And over here, David Sacks, another billionaire, says, "After blindly funding the left for years, Silicon Valley is finally realizing what time it is. Dinner time, and they're on the menu." And this is after he uh tweeted that he's looking at um Austin, Texas as uh the next uh Silicon Valley uh for the US. These billionaires are at least the ones that are publicly saying that they're heading out of the state, but more and more are are actually uh not only looking at it, but starting to put together these specific steps to leave.
Now, Democrats are laughing about it. They're saying, uh, uh, like Ro Khanna, who's, you know, according to CNBC, "California's Ro Khanna faces Silicon Valley backlash after embracing wealth tax." Uh, Ro Khanna tweeted, "I will miss them very much." It's he's being sarcastic. He's like, "Well, you know, so what? Let them eat cake." Again, I'm not defending billionaires. And I think that uh people need to pay their fair share. But the idea that you sit there and celebrate the weaponization of a tax system uh to to get the masses to just go and you know take someone's uh resources. And it's all done basically in a very clear way, which is, "Hey, you don't have to pay this. Someone else has to pay it. We're not even going to defend whether it's fair or not. You just weaponize government against them. We'll just steal the money." And if there's a tax, then people should have to pay their portion of it. But everybody should have to pay their portion of it. Um, and I I actually think that the taxes are already too high. We don't need tax increases. All we have to do is cut the wasteful spending and we can balance the budget and fund the core programs. But no, no, no, no. These Democrats, they don't care about efficiency. They don't want to get rid of the waste. They're the ones that created the waste. They just want more money, honey.
And in the meantime, you have these guys like Congressman Ro Khanna mocking the people, saying, "Well, if you do this, I'm leaving the state." Not only is it vindictive, it's absolutely stupid because who's paying to run state government in California? Well, we have an $18 billion deficit. So taxpayers are paying through the you know what, and it's still not enough money. But two-thirds of the state's general fund budget comes from personal income taxes. Income taxes. Two-thirds. Our state is heavily dependent on personal income taxes to run state government. The 1% though, the wealthiest 1% of taxpayers actually pay nearly 40% of all income taxes in the state of California. Let me repeat that. The only 1% of taxpayers, the highest earning 1% in California are responsible for 40% to be exact, 38.7% of all personal income taxes. So the 1% cover nearly 40% of two-thirds of our entire state budget. So when these high high wealth individuals start hearing that Democrats are successfully going after the so-called rich, what are they going to do? They're going to say, "I'm not waiting around. I can always come to vacation. I'm wealthy enough to come and vacation in California, but I'm going to go and become a permanent resident somewhere else." And as soon as we lose high wealth individuals as permanent residents to other states, we lose 100% of their contribution in revenues to the state of California. Cutting off your nose despite your face. Congressman Ro Khanna and all of these other Democrats are absolute idiots. Vindictive idiots.
Uh, here's one other funny thing to point out to all the Democrat billionaires and Democrat millionaires who are going to they're on I mean Sacks is absolutely right. They're on the the menu. Who are you funding for political contributions? Millionaires and billionaires. Oh, that's right. You created the monster. You didn't care when they were raising the gas tax on ordinary Californians. That was a rounding error in your expense account. No, now they're coming. Democrats are coming for you. And these are the Democrats that you helped create. Congratulations. This is your monster.
What's frustrating about it, though, is these billionaires, as I just noted, have the ability to leave, take their money with them, and leave you holding the bag of a state budget that will collapse almost immediately. I could see of that 1% at least a third leaving if a wealth tax actually gains steam and gets put on the ballot. Because people even that are not billionaires, if they're just random millionaires, they're going to be like, "Oh, I'm not dumb. This is starting now." and they're going to claw back. So, I better get out sooner rather than later because I might actually trip a a date by which I will then be subject to this tax even if I do leave later on down the road when they apply it. Remember, this billionaire's tax is retroactive. There's going to be all sorts of legal challenges to that. But these millionaires that are not even going to be subject to the billionaire's tax this round, uh they're going to say, "I know what's going to go on. Let me get the hell out of here." So even if a third of that 1% leaves, that's a third, you know, it's like 10% 12% 13% of personal income taxes immediately vanishing in the state of California. I I don't think these Democrats have any clue about how painful, how destructive, what a crisis that will create. But again, they'll blame it on Trump. They'll blame it on you, and you will be left holding the bag.
Uh, one last thing. This billionaire's tax is likely going to pass. The attorney general Rob Bonta, who prepares the official title and summary for every ballot measure, is once again putting his thumb on the scale and lying to voters. "Imposes a one-time tax on certain individuals and trusts." "Imposes a one-time tax on certain people." As good of a ballot title as you can possibly get. Give what is literally a crap sandwich because he doesn't want to anger the backers, the special interest labor union bosses that are bankrolling and far-left activists that are supporting the so-called billionaires tax. It's a savings tax.
Look, at Reform California, we're leading the fight to try to stop this. Most important thing you can do is help us build the campaign out statewide to stop all tax increases in 2026, not just the savings tax or the wealth tax. Uh go to the website oppose taxhikes.org. Download, print, sign, and mail back the petition to save Prop 13. And while you're there, please chip in a contribution that will go towards helping stop state and local tax increases in the 2026 election. We've got only a few months to get ready for the midterm election. It's going to take a grassroots fight, and I'm inviting you to be part of it.
Until next time, I'm Carl Deayo, chairman of Reform California and a California state legislator. Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoyed this episode. But before you click away, please subscribe to this channel and click that notification button so you get updated when we post new episodes. Plus, like this video and share it with your friends so [music] that we can help spread our message across the state.