Paul Kiernan and Laura J. Nelson, California’s Billionaire Tax Kicks Off a Democratic Civil War (Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2026)

California’s proposed billionaire tax will appear before voters in November, teeing up a fight among Democrats over wealth, affordability and the future of their party as they push to take back Congress in this year’s midterms.

A deadline to withdraw the controversial ballot initiative came and went Thursday after fruitless efforts by Gov. Gavin Newsom and allies to persuade the union behind the tax to withdraw it. Also headed for the ballot: a pair of initiatives from a committee backed by billionaires including Sergey Brin that could undercut the one-time, 5% wealth levy. 

The tax, proposed by a healthcare workers’ union, seeks to raise $100 billion over five years to offset cuts to Medicaid and other federal programs under the “big, beautiful” tax-and-spending bill that President Trump signed into law last year. The union late Thursday confirmed it didn’t pull the ballot measure before the window to do so expired….