California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) endorsed a ballot measure that, if approved by voters, would cancel out the ballot measure proposal that would impose a one-time tax on the Golden State's billionaires. On Friday, Newsom endorsed Proposition 42, which would prohibit retroactive taxes imposed by Proposition 40, known as the Billionaire Tax…
Page F118From§Eachthe evening edition — 13 October 2026
The billionaire tax a former Andreessen partner volunteered to pay would be voided by the measure Newsom endorsed.
As it ran on the front
Two measures on one California ballot, and the second exists to annul the first. That is the design. A retroactive tax is the only sort that reaches a fortune in hand, and Proposition 42 prohibits retroactive taxes. Prohibits. Proposition 40 asks the state's 200 billionaires for five percent of their net worth, once, for healthcare and education. Proposition 42 asks nobody for anything.
You are thinking the voters decide. They do. In August, groups funded by Sergey Brin and Peter Thiel opened an advertising blitz against 40; by 22 September, 45 percent of registered voters still backed it. Forty-five.…
…(cont) And the Governor? On Friday Gavin Newsom endorsed 42.
John O'Farrell, formerly of Andreessen Horowitz, took twelve posts on X to say he would be happy to pay. Tens of millions went the other way.
Two hundred fortunes keep the five percent ... and the five percent was for healthcare and education.
Spring now. In the yard the fox sits. A man feeds the fox.
“They keep telling you there's no money for clinics or classrooms, and here's five percent of 200 fortunes, one time, sitting right there on the ballot — and beside it, a second measure whose only job is to make the first one disappear. Brin and Thiel money bought the ad blitz; the governor signed on Friday. When a guy who'd have to pay it says he's happy to pay it and your own governor still backs the eraser, that tells you who he's answering, and the bill lands on your kid's school.”
“Retroactive taxes — nobody supports retroactive taxes, that's not about billionaires, that's basic fairness, that's rule of law. Did I say billionaires? I don't think I said billionaires. And the polling is the polling; 45 percent is the voters speaking for themselves, we just helped them hear about it, which, last I checked, is called informing the public.”
The receipts
· Fewer than half of California voters back billionaire tax: Poll from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
· Billionaire-Backed Groups Launch Ad Blitz Against California Wealth Tax from the morgue, 25 Aug 2026
· Bernie Sanders Going Back to California to Rally for Billionaire Tax Ballot Measure from the morgue, 29 Sep 2026
· 'I Know Where I Want to Live': Ex-Venture Capitalist Explains Why He'd Be Happy to Pay California Billionaire Tax from the morgue, 1 Oct 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.