Nobel economists support Prop 40 to tax California billionaires

Nobel economists support Prop 40 to tax California billionaires

Taxing billionaires in California to kick-start movement to tax ultra-wealthy in U.S.

By Lynda Carson - September 19, 2026

A group of progressive Nobel Prize-winning economists supporting Prop 40 to tax the ultra-wealthy billionaires in California, include six laureates, including Joseph Stiglitz and Peter Diamond who have penned an open letter backing the proposed one-time 5 per cent levy on billionaires, saying it could kick-start a movement to introduce wealth taxes across America and the world.

Reportedly, “The vote on November 3 is “the first opportunity for the people to start reining in the power of billionaires”, the economists argue in their letter. “If the state that houses some of the country’s most powerful billionaires votes to tax their wealth, it will kick-start a movement to tax ultra-high-net-worth individuals in other states — and eventually at the federal level and in other countries,” they wrote. “As Californians head to the polls, their vote may well come to be seen as a turning point in the battle between democracy and oligarchy.” Stiglitz is a former chief economist of the World Bank, and Diamond is an MIT professor who was nominated to the Federal Reserve Board by then president Barack Obama but withdrew after Republican opposition.

The letter’s other signatories are: Daron Acemoglu, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics for work analysing the differences in prosperity between nations; Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, who won in 2019 for work in development economics; and Paul Krugman, the trade economist turned political commentator. All six have previously expressed support for wealth taxes or higher income taxes on the very rich. “Contrary to the claims of its opponents, taxing billionaires will not doom Silicon Valley, quite the opposite,” they claim.

Other Prop 40 endorsements, including Bernie Sanders, and many others may be found by clicking here.

Additional, Prop 40 supporters.

The California Democratic Party endorsed Proposition 40, a ballot measure to impose a one-time 5% tax on the state's 200 billionaires.

Hundreds of elected officials, labor unions, and community-based organizations endorse Prop 40 to keep hospitals and ERs open.

Supporters: US Senator Bernie Sanders; SEIU United Healthcare Workers West

550,000-member California State PTA backs Prop 40 to protect healthcare, education, and food assistance for California families.

California Working Families Party endorses Prop 40, backing a one-time billionaire tax aimed at raising healthcare funding.

Cal Labor Federation president Lorena Gonzalez says Proposition 40 — opposed by the ultra-rich — is needed to maintain basic health care services after cuts by President Trump and Republicans.

Prop. 40 is sponsored by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West.

Supporters say Prop. 40 would apply only to Californians with a net worth that exceeds $1 billion.

Views on the billionaire tax are sharply divided by party, with 72% of Democrats supporting it and 77% of Republicans opposing the tax proposal.

Prop 40 would help to alleviate Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ problems.

Prop 40 would help to alleviate some of the huge problems in California created by the convicted felon President Donald J. Trump’s so-called ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Trump’s so called ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’, passed by Congress last year, is “The harmful Republican megabill that gives huge tax breaks to wealthy individuals, businesses, and large corporations while leaving behind or raising costs for millions of working families.”

See more information about the convicted felon President Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ further below.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025, permanently extends and expands major corporate tax cuts originally set by the 2017 tax reform.

Key Corporate Tax Cuts

• Bonus Depreciation: The law makes 100% bonus depreciation permanent. This allows companies to deduct the full cost of new equipment and machinery immediately instead of writing it off over many years.


• R&D Expensing: It permanently allows companies to deduct domestic research and development (R&D) costs right away. Previous rules forced businesses to spread these deductions out over five years.


• Interest Deductions: The law restores a more generous business interest deduction limit based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).


• International Profits: According to an analysis by the Center for American Progress, the bill cuts taxes on corporations' foreign profits by $167 billion by canceling future tax increases that were meant to pay for the 2017 tax cuts.


Who Benefits Most

• Large Corporations: C corporations save billions of dollars, with manufacturing, information technology, and mining companies seeing the largest tax reductions relative to their size.


• High Earners: Research shows that the majority of benefits from broad business and corporate tax cuts flow to top earners and the richest households.

 
That’s right! Taxing billionaires in California with Proposition 40, would be a great way to kick-start a movement to tax the ultra-wealthy billionaires in the U.S., and elsewhere.

Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

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