Last month, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in California crossed $2,800, and in cities like San Francisco, that number is closer to $4,500. At the same time, a handful of people in this state added billions to their net worth – on paper, in a single week.
Extreme wealth concentration isn’t just a statistic in a report; it has real-world consequences. We see it in skipped prescriptions, delayed ER visits, and parents doing math at the pharmacy counter to see which medication they can afford to leave behind.
Right now, California faces a looming $30 billion annual hole in its healthcare budget. This is the direct result of the federal government’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which has enacted roughly $860 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next decade.
If we do nothing, 3.4 million of our neighbors are at risk of losing their doctor. It’s easy to hear that as just a number. But every one of those people is a whole world to someone else – a parent, a child, a partner. When that care disappears, it’s not a statistic that’s lost. It’s someone’s world.
Quick Facts: 2026 Billionaire Tax Act
- The Target: Individuals with net worth over $1 Billion.
- The Rate: One-time 5% tax on wealth held as of Jan 1, 2026.
- The Plan: Paid over 5 years 1% PER YEAR
- The Revenue: Estimated $100 Billion total.
- The Lockbox: 90% for healthcare; 10% for schools & food.
- The Vision: Designed as a blueprint for a national wealth tax to eventually fund Medicare for All.
A Targeted Solution
People are standing up and saying that we don’t have to accept this. Senator Bernie Sanders recently joined healthcare workers in Los Angeles to support the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act, a ballot initiative designed to protect our healthcare system from these federal cuts.
The proposal is straightforward: a one-time 5% tax on the accumulated wealth of individuals with a net worth over $1 billion as of January 1, 2026.
- The Payment Plan: To ensure stability, the tax is payable over five years (1% per year).
- The Reality Check: If an individual has $10 billion and contributes 5%, they still have $9.5 billion. They will be just fine. But for a family relying on Medi-Cal for life-saving treatment, that contribution is the difference between health and catastrophe.
- The Impact: It would raise an estimated $100 billion. 90% of that stays in a dedicated fund for healthcare, with the remaining 10% supporting schools and food assistance.
What Happens When the Money Runs Out?
You might ask: if this is a one-time tax, won’t the money eventually run out? The answer is yes – and that is exactly the point. This tax is designed as a five-year emergency bridge.
The goal is to provide California with $20 billion a year for the next five years to stop the immediate collapse of our clinics and hospitals. This buys us the time we need to fight back at the national level, to organize, and to elect a government that will reverse these disastrous federal cuts. We are stopping the bleeding so we can eventually cure the patient.
Moving Past the Excuses
We are already hearing the familiar warnings from the establishment. Governor Gavin Newsom has criticized the plan, suggesting it will drive wealth out of the state. But because the tax is based on wealth held as of January 1, 2026, “fleeing” doesn’t change the obligation. You cannot outrun a date that has already passed.
Others, including gubernatorial candidates like Rep. Eric Swalwell, have suggested we wait and implement an “ongoing tax” instead. While a long-term conversation about fair taxation is important, our clinics are facing cuts today. A study committee that won’t produce results for years doesn’t help the veteran who needs care now. We need a bold solution that meets the urgency of this moment.
A National Blueprint
California is the testing ground, but the goal is national. The same forces that are gutting our healthcare are the ones benefiting from a system that allows them to move assets like chess pieces to avoid their responsibilities.
A National Wealth Tax – the kind Bernie Sanders has advocated for – would fundamentally stabilize our country:
- It levels the playing field: No more “shell games” between states.
- It funds human needs: We could finally guarantee healthcare as a right through Medicare for All, eliminate the student debt crisis, and invest in a sustainable future.
- It restores balance: True democracy cannot thrive when a few individuals hold more influence than millions of voters.
The Bottom Line
We are at a crossroads. We can continue down a path where the few thrive at the expense of the many, or we can stand together to demand a system that works for everyone.
The movement starts here. If we can prove that a billionaire tax works in California, we can bring that same fairness to every corner of the United States.
This isn’t about punishment. It’s about participation. If a system helped create extraordinary wealth, it can also ask for something back when that system is at risk.
That’s not radical. It’s the baseline of a functioning democracy.
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