The Teamsters union supports California’s proposed 5% wealth tax on billionaires
FOX Business host Marcus Lemonis discusses billionaires fleeing California to avoid proposed wealth tax on ‘The Bottom Line.’
One of America’s largest unions has made a public announcement about California’s much-talked-about billionaire wealth tax.
Teamsters California and its 250,000 members have officially supported state legislation that proposes a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of California residents over $1 billion.
“The fight to pass the California Billionaire Tax is a fight to protect workers’ ability to afford to live in California; a fight Teamsters California will continue to lead,” said Teamsters California Co-Chairs Peter Finn and Victor Mineros in a joint statement.
“The same Big Tech billionaires who cry crocodile tears over the idea of paying their taxes properly while amassing vast sums of money using a strict system that makes delivery workers and bus drivers pay higher rates than the AI bosses who are trying to take our jobs away,” they continued.
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The Teamsters statement added that the union hopes the tax proposal will hold billions “accountable for destroying our jobs and robbing our families of health care,” as Teamsters California leads “the fight for working people and their jobs by challenging Big Tech’s agenda aimed at replacing family-supporting jobs with robots.”
Teamsters union workers picket outside an Amazon distribution center on December 19, 2024, in San Francisco, California. (Getty Images)
Although the plan is not ready for a vote in November 2026, this proposal – supported by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West – will impose a one-time tax of 5% on billions, due in 2027, taxpayers are allowed to spread the payments over five years, and additional costs, according to the Legislative Office Analyst.
If the measure is approved by voters, anyone who was a California resident on Jan. 1, 2026, will owe taxes, according to the proposal.
“Approximately 200 California billionaires hold a staggering $2 trillion in wealth; each Billionaire can spend $500 million a year on interest income alone and not touch a dime of their wealth,” Finn and Mineros wrote. “But for greedy corporations and their billionaire owners, it’s not enough – they won’t be satisfied until they’ve outsourced every job to a millionaire robot.”
Corcoran Group agent Julian Johnston speaks exclusively to Fox News Digital about the new wave of California billionaires moving to South Florida because of the proposed wealth tax.
“The legislative package prioritizes protecting workers and the public from the elimination of good jobs by robots, the dangers of autonomous vehicles that threaten our public safety and ensuring that our state’s economic growth benefits everyday Californians,” they continued, “not just corporate executives and shareholders.”
The office of Gov. Neither Gavin Newsom nor the Service Employees International Union–United Healthcare Workers West immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
As a result of the proposal, several billionaires — some public and some undisclosed — have moved assets or moved from California to business-friendly states like Florida. Proven examples include Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, investor Peter Thiel and capitalist David Sacks.
“One client said, ‘You know, this could be like a five billion tax bill for me,'” Julian Johnston of the Corcoran Group recently told Fox News Digital. “So they’re moving because of that.”
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FOX Business’ Max Gorden reports from Los Angeles on ‘Varney & Co.’
“They all dined and wined together and talked about the proposed tax. And as the proposed tax accelerated, they realized they had to rent or buy something outside of California to establish a residence and reduce their exposure to the proposed millionaire tax,” he continued to explain.
“It’s a melting pot and they’re all friends. And that’s it. The tipping point was when they bought four or five and three would go into contracts. Everyone else, all their friends are there. And they talked about office buildings.”
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