Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music The Best Music of 2025 All Songs Considered Tiny Desk Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop The Best Music of 2025 All Songs Considered Tiny Desk Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Sen. Bernie Sanders rallies support for proposed tax on billionaires in California Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is in California trying to drum up support for a ballot measure asking for a tax on billionaires. Politics Sen. Bernie Sanders rallies support for proposed tax on billionaires in California February 19, 20264:50 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition From By Guy Marzorati Sen. Bernie Sanders rallies support for proposed tax on billionaires in California Listen · 2:28 2:28 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5718525/nx-s1-9655067" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is in California trying to drum up support for a ballot measure asking for a tax on billionaires. Sponsor Message
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A proposal to tax California's billionaires is pitting the state's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom against independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Sanders was in Los Angeles Wednesday night rallying support for the measure. From member station KQED, Guy Marzorati has the story.
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BERNIE SANDERS: Thank you, LA.
GUY MARZORATI, BYLINE: Senator Sanders is backing a one-time 5% tax on billionaires' net worth that's meant to offset federal health care cuts.
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SANDERS: The billionaire class cannot have it all.
MARZORATI: The tax would apply retroactively to anyone living in the state on January 1, 2026. But it's still a long way from becoming a reality. The health care union proposing the measure needs to collect nearly 875,000 signatures to get the measure on the November ballot. But Sanders is the biggest name yet to throw his weight behind the idea.
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SANDERS: When millions of people in this state are struggling to be able to afford health care, maybe billionaires should start paying their fair share of taxes.
(CHEERING)
MARZORATI: The billionaire tax is aimed at what Boston College Law School professor Ray Madoff calls the tax avoidance playbook of America's wealthiest residents.
RAY MADOFF: And the very first step is that they avoid salaries.
MARZORATI: By keeping their wealth in stocks and other assets, Madoff says billionaires can dodge California's progressive income tax. But Madoff has concerns about a single state like California enacting its own wealth tax.
MADOFF: Because there's too much free movement of people. It's too easy for people to pick up and move to different states or to choose to open new businesses in other states.
MARZORATI: That concern was echoed last month by California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who pointed to some billionaires already leaving the state.
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GAVIN NEWSOM: It's a badly drafted effort. It's already had an outsized impact on this state.
MARZORATI: Newsom also criticized the measure for setting aside 90% of revenue for just one area - health care.
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NEWSOM: It doesn't support our first responders and firefighters. It doesn't support the general fund and parks.
MARZORATI: Newsom is likely to play a leading role in the campaign against the billionaire tax, and some of the state's billionaires are already putting up money to fund the opposition.
For NPR News, I'm Guy Marzorati in San Jose. Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor MessageBecome an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1167:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(323)},323:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(84)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1140),c(116),c(94),c(52),c(493),c(239),c(102),c(104),c(1141),c(143),c(1142),c(238),c(48),c(1143)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1167,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();