Gov. Gavin Newsom has spent years auditioning on the national stage as the smooth, telegenic “moderate” Democrat who can sell progressivism to the masses in a tailored suit. We’ve covered his blatantly obvious presidential ambitions here at PJ Media for years now. But his latest move in California looks more like he’s committing an act of political suicide. Newsom has led California into such dire financial straits that he’s now proposing a retroactive “billionaire tax” targeting people who lived in California, earned in California, and in many cases have already left the state.
“The ‘2026 Billionaires Tax Act’ would impose a one-time 5% tax on individual wealth exceeding $1 billion,” explains Jonathan Turley. “While technically using 2026 wealth figures, it would apply to billionaires who resided in California in 2025. So you cannot hope to flee… at least with your wealth intact.”
As Turley notes, it’s “a penalty for those who stayed too long hoping that rational minds would prevail in California.”
What good can come of this? Because, from where I sit, it tells voters across the country something very simple about Newsom: when his policies blow up the budget, his instinct is to come after your wallet, even if you have already moved away.
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On Newsom’s watch, the state went from a $21.4 billion surplus to a $45 billion deficit—despite California already carrying the heaviest overall tax burden in the country. Spending exploded while revenue sagged, which is what happens when you keep cranking up taxes, pile on costly programs like free healthcare for illegal immigrants, and then act shocked when high earners and businesses stampede for the exits.
Without a doubt, Newsom and the proponents of this retroactive tax figure that since there aren’t that many billionaires, the public at large won’t have that much of a problem with this plan. But, Turley argues differently.
“Most Americans are obviously not billionaires, but see the obvious unfairness to such retroactive taxes,” Turley explains. “People are allowed to make decisions on whether they want to stay in a state and how to invest their money in light of tax and other considerations. These retroactive taxes allow a bait-and-switch for taxpayers as politicians tap wealth from prior years.”
And if politicians can retroactively tax you, what can’t they do? That’s the message that Newsom sends to voters nationwide just by simply backing this absurd plan. For someone positioning himself to run for president in 2028, this is an incredible self-own. Newsom is advertising that under his leadership, a state with record revenue blew through its surplus, plunged into deficit, and then tried to paper over the mess by retroactively taxing people who left, rather than reforming the policies that drove them out.
Voters in swing states will see a governor who treated successful citizens like an ATM, flirted with constitutionally dubious confiscation, and presided over a budget crisis in one of the wealthiest states in the country. They will reasonably ask: if he did this to California, what would he do to the rest of the country?
