Billionaire tax proposition in California fails

Just the News 03 November 2026

(The Center Square) -

California's voters have rejected a number of propositions, including a billionaire tax, while simultaneously approving a number of bond measures.

Prop. 40 was the measure that would have established a one-time 5% tax on California's billionaire class. The tax would have generated roughly $100 billion over five years, proponents claimed. The money was meant to be used to pay for K-12 education, Medi-Cal and CalFresh, among other taxpayer-funded programs, The Center Square previously reported.

Prop. 40 – often called the billionaire tax – lost at the ballot box Tuesday, with 3,966,849 voters, or 52.4%, rejecting it. The measure did get some support, with 3,598,679 voters, 47.6%, favoring the measure.

"We opposed the billionaire tax. We oppose wealth taxes in general," Susan Shelley, vice president of communications for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, told The Center Square on Wednesday. "It's a new kind of tax for California that we think would definitely grow to encompass more people. We were grateful to see that it was defeated."

Prop. 42, which would have prohibited new personal property taxes levied by the state, passed 4,150,258 to 3,489,519, with 54.33% of voters approving the measure and 45.7% against. The measure was meant to ultimately cancel out Prop. 40 if voters had opted to pass it, according to previous reporting by The Center Square.

Other measures that were ahead as votes continued to be counted on Wednesday included Prop. 1, which authorizes general obligation bonds to pay for affordable housing for veterans, the homeless, students and others. That measure was passing on Wednesday 4,506,588 to 3,084,042, or 59.4% to 40.6%.

Prop. 2, which increases allocations to the state's "Rainy Day Fund," was passing 59.6% to 40.4%, or 4,517,170 to 3,068,289. Prop. 3 was also passing by a similar margin, with 58.7% of voters approving it compared to the 41.3% of voters who rejected it, putting the high-income tax extension to help pay for public education at 4,483,609 voters for the measure and 3,160,538 against.

The fate of Prop. 5, a constitutional amendment that aims to change recall election laws, was uncertain, with 50.3% favoring it and 49.7% opposed, or 3,706,839 voters in support versus 3,658,414 against.

Prop. 37 had passed as of noon Wednesday, with voters supporting the affordable housing measure 61% to 39%, or 4,605,778 for and 2,946,506 against.

Prop. 38, a measure that authorizes general obligation bonds to be used for immunology and immunotherapy research, passed as of Wednesday with 55.7% to 44.3%, or 4,221,039 voters in support versus 3,354,819 against.

"I was very proud of our campaign," Bob Kaplan, a senior scholar at the Stanford University School of Medicine's Clinical Excellence Research Center and opponent of Prop. 38, told The Center Square late Tuesday. "We are disappointed, of course, that we just didn't have the funds to get the message out."

Measures that weren't doing so well included Prop. 4, which would have repealed a prohibition against using taxpayer dollars to pay for political campaigns. That ballot measure was failing 52% to 48%, with 3,892,816 rejecting it and 3,599,779 supporting it.

Prop. 39, which would have established stricter voter identification requirements, was also failing with 58.6% voting "no" and 41.4% voting "yes." There were 4,504,293 against it and 3,187,450 in support.

Voters also rejected Prop. 41, which would have prohibited new statewide taxes that surpassed constitutionally-mandated legislative spending limits. Voters rejected that measure 52.4% to 47.6%, or 3,966,849 opposed and 3,598,679 in favor.

And voters rejected the last three propositions on the ballot: Props. 43, 44 and 45.

Prop. 43 would have limited voters' ability to approve new local taxes, and it was rejected 54.9% to 45.1%, or 4,130,805 against and 3,392,467 in support. Prop. 44 would have required taxpayer-funded health clinics to spend 90% of their revenues on services provided by those clinics, which voters opposed 81.8% to 18.2%, or 6,148,087 to 1,364,440. Prop. 45 aimed to change environmental review regulations for new construction, and voters rejected that measure 54.1% to 45.9%, or 4,050,212 to 3,438,817.