# California decides whether to tax billionaires, a highly-anticipated vote amid rising inequality

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/california-decides-whether-to-tax-billionaires-a-highly-anticipated-vote-amid-rising-inequality/
- Published: 2026-11-03T16:56:04+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-04T00:21:21+00:00
- Original publisher: Le Monde (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/11/03/california-decides-whether-to-tax-billionaires-a-highly-anticipated-vote-amid-rising-inequality_6770590_4.html
- Topics: Elections, Politics, World

## Key points

- Californians are voting on a one-off 5% tax on billionaires.
- A late October poll showed more voters opposed than supported it.
- The result could influence wealth tax debates elsewhere in the US.

## Summary

California voters are deciding whether to impose a one-off wealth tax of 5% on billionaires, in a ballot vote watched nationally as a possible model for taxing extreme wealth elsewhere. The proposal has become a test of whether voters will back higher taxes on the very wealthy amid rising inequality, despite warnings that billionaires could leave the state.

The measure was proposed by a healthcare union and developed with economists Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez. A University of California, Berkeley poll published on 29 October found 42% intended to support it, 50% opposed it and 8% were undecided. The article connects the debate to figures showing that the 25 richest US billionaires’ wealth rose by $401 billion from 2014 to 2018, while they paid $13.6 billion in federal taxes, a reported effective rate of 3.4%.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.