Wealth tax

Hospitals and a healthcare union have agreed to pull rival initiatives from the ballot, but a proposed one-time 5% tax on billionaires remains headed to November voters.

Newsom has already vowed to tank a proposed ballot initiative that would impose a 5% wealth tax on the state’s billionaires to bolster Medi-Cal. Progressive lawmakers and their allies in labor and health seem hopeful that Newsom could support a different long-shot funding idea.