Governor Gavin Newsom attends the 94th Annual Meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors in Long Beach, California on June 4, 2026.
Myraneli Fabian Anadolu | Getty Images
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, widely considered a 2028 presidential candidate, on Friday called for a statewide tax on billionaires as part of a broader agenda to deliver what he called “resetting the American economy.”
The Democratic governor, in a Substack post and accompanying video posted on social media, supported hiking taxes on the nation’s wealthiest — but reiterated his opposition to the statewide wealth tax that Californians will vote on in November.
The next presidential election is more than two years away, but the lists of candidates for both major parties are already in place, with Newsom near the top of the Democratic list.
The 58-year-old, whose limited term ends in early 2027, has already admitted he is putting together a White House bid. He did this earlier this month, when he accused President Donald Trump of ordering the Department of Justice to investigate him and his wife “because I’m thinking of running for president.”
Newsom’s early presentation of a campaign platform focused on finance echoes proposals already floated by other Democrats — including others, such as Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., is also flirting with a run for the highest US office.
Newsom built his economic message around a broad coalition of working Americans disadvantaged by a system unfairly skewed toward the rich.
“They did everything right, and the system has nothing on them,” the governor wrote in a Friday post. “What stands in their way is a federal tax code, a corporate code, and an inheritance code written for a different set of Americans.”
Newsom said he supports “a true minimum tax on billionaires — a modern day Buffett rule — that makes sure the top earners pay at least the same amount in taxes as their workers.” Legendary investor Warren Buffett advocated the redistribution of wealth.
He also called for an end to various tax breaks and benefits that give the super rich “their own private tax code full of loopholes and exemptions that most people have never heard of.”
That includes ending what he calls “tax-free lifestyle loans” — a controversial tactic sometimes known as “buy, borrow, die” — where people borrow money against their stocks and other capital assets to reduce their taxable income.
Some of the richest people in the world are accused of exploiting this strategy. Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos recently told CNBC that if it’s a “real loophole,” it should be closed.
Newsom also called for rewriting inheritance laws and returning corporate tax rates to their pre-2017 levels, ahead of the massive tax cut legislation Trump signed in his first term as president.
And Newsom proposed creating a “national social equity fund” to help “ensure that every American has a stake in the future that AI will create.”
But he continued to oppose the billionaire’s tax proposal that will be voted on in his state later this year via a ballot proposal.
The California-specific tax — a one-time, 5% tax on the net worth of billions — moves forward to a vote after a health workers’ union pushed for the measure and refused to withdraw it by a Thursday deadline.
Newsom and other critics say the state’s proposal would drain wealth from California and that the revenue would not be used to fund important priorities.
“The battle to make the wealthiest Americans pay higher taxes is not something the state should be fighting,” Newsom wrote. “You may not be able to move to Texas or Florida to shelter your income from taxes, but I promise you millionaires can, and do.”
