Rep. Kevin Kiley measure would block key element of proposed California wealth tax

WASHINGTON— While progressives are trying to put a new tax on billionaires on the November ballot in California, a Republican congressman is moving in the opposite direction, proposing federal legislation that would bar states from taxing the assets of former residents.

Facing a tough re-election fight under California’s redrawn congressional maps, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) says he will introduce the “Keeping Jobs in California Act of 2026” on Friday. The measure would prohibit any state from retroactively collecting taxes on individuals who no longer live there.

The proposed law adds another layer to the already heated debate over California’s approach to taxing the ultra-wealthy. It created divisions among Democrats and placed Los Angeles at the center of a broader political struggle; Bernie Sanders is set to hold a rally in support of a wealth tax on Wednesday night.

Kiley said he drafted the bill in response to reports that some of California’s most prominent billionaires, including Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, planned to leave the state in anticipation of the wealth tax going into effect.

“California’s proposed wealth tax is an unprecedented attempt to catch people leaving the country as a result of the state’s bad policies,” Kiley said in a statement Wednesday. “Many of our state’s top job creators are leaving preemptively.”

Kiley said it would be “fundamentally unfair” to impose a retroactive tax on former residents.

“California already has the highest income tax, the highest gas tax and the highest total tax burden of any state in the country,” Kiley told the House earlier this month. “But a wealth tax is unique because a wealth tax is not just a taxation of earned income, it is also a confiscation of assets.”

The fate of Kiley’s proposal is as uncertain as its future in Congress. The 5th Congressional District, which hugs the Nevada border, was divided into six districts under California’s voter-approved Proposition 50 and has yet to pick one up for re-election.

The Billionaire Tax Act, which supporters are trying to get on the November ballot, would charge California’s more than 200 billionaires with a one-time 5% tax on their net worth to offset billions of dollars in Republican-led cuts to federal health care funding for middle-class and low-income citizens. Recommended by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West.

In his speech, Kiley worried that the tax, if approved, could cause the state’s economy to collapse.

“What’s particularly threatening about this is that our state’s tax structure is essentially a house of cards,” Kiley said. “You have an incredibly volatile system where the top 1% of earners generate 50% of tax revenue.”

But supporters of the wealth tax argue that the measure is one of several ways that could help the state raise new revenue as it faces economic uncertainty.

Sanders, an independent from Vermont who is caucusing with Democrats, is urging Californians to support the measure, saying it would “provide the funding needed to prevent more than 3 million working-class Californians from losing the health care they already have and help prevent the closure of hospitals and emergency rooms in California.”

“It should be prudent for billionaires to pay a little more so that all communities can continue to have access to life-saving medical care,” Sanders said in a statement earlier this month. “Our country needs access to hospitals and emergency rooms, not more tax cuts for billionaires.”

Other Democrats aren’t so sure.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is eyeing a presidential bid in 2028, opposed the measure. He warned that a state-by-state approach to taxing the wealthy could stifle innovation and entrepreneurship.

Some of the world’s richest people are also taking steps to defeat this measure.

Brin is donating $20 million to a political initiative in California to prevent the passage of a wealth tax. A statement reviewed by the New York Times. PayPal co-founder and Palantir chairman Peter Thiel also donated millions to a committee working to defeat the proposed measure. The New York Times reported.