California's 4 Richest Paid Just 0.07% of Wealth in Income Tax: NYT
California's four richest residents paid an average 0.07% of their wealth in state income tax from 2019 to 2025, per NYT, as a billionaire wealth tax heads to the November ballot.
The four wealthiest Californians paid an average of just 0.07% of their wealth in state income tax from 2019 through 2025, according to a New York Times opinion piece citing economists behind a proposed billionaire wealth tax now headed to the November ballot.
The figure is fueling a fresh debate over how the ultra-wealthy are taxed in a state where billionaire fortunes have ballooned alongside the AI boom.
The 0.07% number, broken down
The four names referenced are Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Alphabet, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, and Larry Ellison of Oracle. From ProPublica data, researchers estimated the California income tax paid by those four wealthiest Californians, who own almost $1 trillion today, was about 0.44% of total CA income tax for 2013-2018.
Using SEC filings on stock sales, dividends, and compensation from Google, Facebook, and Oracle to proxy their income for 2019-2025, the authors suggest they paid about 0.5% of total CA income tax in those years, or roughly $0.5 to $0.6 billion per year.
Why the rate is so low
The ultra-wealthy generate most of their gains from unrealized stock appreciation, not salary. That income is not taxed until shares are sold, and many founders borrow against their holdings instead of selling.
Since 2019, billionaires have paid, on average, 1.3% in state, federal, and corporate taxes as a percentage of their total wealth. The 0.07% figure isolates California state income tax specifically for the top four.
The wealth tax on the ballot
The tax, which will be on the ballot in November, would charge around 200 California billionaires a one-time 5% levy on their total wealth, with proponents targeting additional revenues worth $100 billion spread out over five years.
The tax is based on worldwide net worth of taxpayers valued as of December 31, 2026, excluding real estate property directly held. Real estate that is the property of a business owned by a billionaire is taxable.
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The AI wealth surge driving the debate
California billionaires' wealth exceeds $2 trillion today, the equivalent of 50% of California's GDP. It has grown 144% from 2023 to 2025, fueled by the AI boom.
California billionaires pay about 0.2% of their wealth in California income tax, roughly $3.2 billion a year, representing 2.4% of total California income tax revenue on average over 2023-2025.
Pushback from Newsom and others
Governor Gavin Newsom has come out against the state wealth tax while floating his own national billionaire income tax proposal, a move critics call a misdirect.
The libertarian-leaning Hoover Institute reported in March the wealth tax's projected gain would be closer to $40 billion, and could turn negative when accounting for wealthy Californians leaving the state in the years to come.
Options market and stocks to watch
The four names anchoring this story are all mega-cap operators with concentrated insider holdings. Watch for any policy-driven flow in:
GOOGL: Page and Brin's stakes make Alphabet a direct read-through if a wealth tax passes and forces share sales to fund the bill.
META: Zuckerberg's voting control and concentrated ownership keep Meta in focus on any forced-liquidity narrative.
ORCL: Ellison's stake is one of the largest single-insider positions in mega-cap tech; watch for headline sensitivity.
NVDA: Researchers swapped Ellison (through 2020) for Jensen Huang (since 2021) in the top four California billionaires tracked. Nvidia's AI-driven run is a core part of the wealth-growth story.
For broader policy and market reaction, keep an eye on other news as the November vote approaches.
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