California communists (i.e. Democrats) just love stealing other people’s money and assets. There is no dearth of enmity toward people who have witnessed material success in their lifetimes that they won’t chip away at, and now Gavin Newsom’s state is preparing to embark upon one of those most blatant and corrupt confiscation plans to date.
The latest form of government theft could soon appear in the form of a proposed “wealth tax.” California’s Democrat-majority assembly is poised to introduce legislation targeting millionaires and billionaires. What’s more, the bill would attempt to seize a percentage of “worldwide net worth” from not just current residents, but past ones as well.
And it keeps getting worse. To be clear, the proposed bill would take money from Californians whether they reside in the state or not, and regardless of where there wealth accrual comes from.
Yahoo! News covered the latest on government overreach from California:
Assemblyman Alex Lee, a progressive Democrat, last week introduced a bill in the California State Legislature that would impose an extra annual 1.5% tax on those with a “worldwide net worth” above $1 billion, starting as early as January 2024.
As early as 2026, the threshold for being taxed would drop: those with a worldwide net worth exceeding $50 million would be hit with a 1% annual tax on wealth, while billionaires would still be taxed 1.5%.
Worldwide wealth extends beyond annual income to include diverse holdings such as farm assets, arts and other collectibles, and stocks and hedge fund interest.
A similar bill was introduced in a 202 session. Amazingly, a Democrat-controlled state senate declined to pass the bill.
Elections have consequences, and Californians know this better than almost anyone. Should the bill become law, it’s not like they weren’t warned. Of course, it seems unlikely most of the state’s wealthiest residents are voting for this nonsense; indeed, the masses are again trying to peel away what isn’t theirs by voting for Democrats willing to do this dirty work.
And yet the bill seeks to punish those who want no part in massive government redistribution. Although its legality is unclear, the bill takes all of this a step further by seeking to reclaim assets from those who move to freer and less draconian states.
Yahoo! again covers this angle:
Exit taxes aren’t new in California. But this bill also includes provisions to create contractual claims tied to the assets of a wealthy taxpayer who doesn’t have the cash to pay their annual wealth tax bill because most of their assets aren’t easily turned into cash. This claim would require the taxpayer to make annual filings with California’s Franchise Tax Board and eventually pay the wealth taxes owed, even if they’ve moved to another state.
In previous posts to social media, Representative Lee has made it clear he sees it as an obligation of the wealthy to fork over more money. Even if that wealth is unrealized, as in the case of certain investments.
“The working class has shouldered the tax burden for too long,” Lee wrote in a tweet. “The ultra-rich are paying little to nothing by hoarding their wealth through assets. Time to end that.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, one critic rightly pointed out that the administrative costs of this program alone would demand an additional tax burden of over $40,000 for every prospective taxpayer.
“The proposed California wealth tax would be economically destructive, challenging to administer and would drive many wealthy residents — and all their current tax payments — out of state,” the critic said. “The bill sets aside as much as $660 million per year just for administrative costs, more than $40,000 per prospective taxpayer, giving an idea of how difficult such a tax would be to administer.”
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