Governor Gavin Newsom attends the 94th Annual Meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors in Long Beach, California, June 4, 2026.
Myraneli Fabian | Anadolu | Getty Images
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is widely viewed as a 2028 presidential contender, on Friday called for a nationwide tax on billionaires as part of a broader agenda to usher in what he’s calling an “economic reset for America.”
The Democratic governor, in a Substack post and accompanying video posted on social media, backed hiking taxes on the nation’s richest — but reiterated his opposition to a state-level wealth tax that Californians will vote on in November.
The next presidential election is more than two years away, but a speculative roster of names for both major parties has already emerged, with Newsom near the top of the list for the Democrats.
The 58-year-old, whose term-limited governorship ends in early 2027, has already acknowledged he is mulling a White House bid. He did so earlier this month, when he accused President Donald Trump of ordering the Department of Justice to investigate him and his wife “because I am considering running for president.”
Newsom’s early rollout of a possible finance-focused campaign platform echoes proposals that have already been put forward by other Democrats — including some, like Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who are also flirting with a run for the highest U.S. office.
Newsom framed his economic message in terms of a broad coalition of working Americans who have been disadvantaged by a system unfairly skewed toward the wealthy.
“They did everything right, and the system still has nothing for them,” the governor wrote in Friday’s post. “What stands in their way is the federal tax code, a corporate code, and an inheritance code written for a different set of Americans.”
Newsom said he supports “a true minimum tax on billionaires — a modern Buffett Rule — that ensures the people at the very top pay at least the tax rate their own workers pay.” Legendary investor Warren Buffett has advocated wealth redistribution.
He also called for closing the various tax perks and benefits that give the ultra-wealthy “their own private tax code full of loopholes and exemptions that most people have never heard of.”
That includes ending what he calls a “tax-free lifestyle loan” — a controversial tactic sometimes known as “buy, borrow, die” — in which people borrow money against their stocks and other large assets to lower their taxable income.
Some of the world’s richest people have been accused of exploiting the strategy. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos recently told CNBC that if it’s “a true loophole,” it should be closed.
Newsom also called for rewriting inheritance rules and returning corporate tax rates to their pre-2017 levels, before the major tax-cut law Trump signed during his first presidential term.
And Newsom proposed creating a “national public equity fund” to help “ensure every American owns a stake in the future being built by AI.”
But he maintained his opposition to the billionaires’ tax proposal that is coming up for a vote in his state later this year via a ballot proposition.
The California-specific tax — a one-time, 5% levy on billionaires’ total wealth — is advancing to the ballot after the healthcare-workers’ union pushing the measure refused to withdraw it by a Thursday deadline.
Newsom and other critics say the state proposal would drive wealth out of California and that the revenue it raises would not be used to fund key priorities.
“The fight to make the wealthiest Americans pay more in taxes is not one we should be fighting state by state,” Newsom wrote. “You may not be able to pick up and move to Texas or Florida to shelter your income from taxation, but I promise you that billionaires can, and do.”