Proposed billionaires’ tax in California rattles Silicon Valley, entangles Gov. Newsom

A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears will lead to an exodus of wealth.

A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other state — a few hundred, by some estimates. Nearly half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly $350 billion budget, comes from the top 1% of earners.

A large health care union is attempting to place a proposal before voters in November that would impose a one-time 5% tax on the assets of billionaires to backfill federal funding cuts to health services for lower-income people that were signed by President Donald Trump last year.

Read more from the Associated Press.