Voters in California and Washington will decide Tuesday whether to tax their wealthiest residents more heavily, in two closely watched tax fights. In both, a central question is whether high earners and their capital would leave.
Taxes are among the most common topics this November, with “more than two dozen ballot measures spanning property and income taxes,” PBS NewsHour reported on Oct. 26.
California: a one-time 5% tax on billionaires
Proposition 40 would impose a one-time 5% tax on taxpayers and trusts with covered assets worth more than $1 billion who lived in California as of Jan. 1, 2026, according to Ballotpedia. Payments could be spread over five years. Ninety percent of the money would go to health programs and 10% to education and food assistance.
The state’s official fiscal estimate projects a “temporary revenue increase of tens of billions of dollars spread over several years” and a “possible ongoing decrease of less than $1 billion per year in income tax revenue from billionaires.”
Proposition 42 would bar new taxes on retirement holdings, personal assets and savings enacted on or after Jan. 1, 2026. Propositions 41 and 42 would nullify Proposition 40 if all pass and they receive more votes. Proposition 40 has a matching provision.
The Democratic Party of California and SEIU-UHW, which sponsors the yes campaign, back Proposition 40. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), Rep. Kevin Kiley (R) and the California Teachers Association oppose it. Reid Wilson of Pluribus News told PBS NewsHour, in a report published Oct. 26, that Newsom’s worry is departures: “California relies so heavily on its capital gains tax that he worries that, if people with a billion dollars flee to another state, it could have real long-term impacts on the state’s fiscal health.”
Washington: repeal the millionaires’ income tax?
Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) signed Senate Bill 6346 on March 30, 2026, setting a 9.9% tax on household income above $1 million beginning in 2028. PBS said the tax is “set to generate billions in revenue annually for state services like education.”
Initiative 645 would repeal that tax and prohibit taxes on individual income. A “yes” vote repeals it, and a “no” vote keeps it. Let’s Go Washington leads the repeal campaign, and Ferguson opposes the initiative. Supporters have raised $7.7 million and opponents about $5.4 million, Ballotpedia reports.
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