California Union Pushes Billionaire Tax to Counter Medicaid Cuts

The Service Employees International Union–United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is spearheading the initiative, which targets the state’s roughly 200 billionaires. Union president Dave Regan confirmed the group's intent to qualify the measure for the November 2026 ballot, framing it as a necessary defense against hospital closures and the potential loss of 145,000 healthcare jobs. The proposal seeks to tap into the estimated $2 trillion in combined wealth held by the state's ultra-wealthy, including figures such as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang.

Supporters argue that the federal Medicaid reductions, which total approximately $1 trillion, have created a manufactured crisis that shifts the financial burden onto vulnerable patients and understaffed facilities. Emmanuel Saez, a UC Berkeley economics professor, noted that the tax would be a modest measure to preserve essential public services. Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich joined the call, characterizing the tax as a practical, time-limited emergency intervention to maintain the functionality of the state's healthcare infrastructure.