California is considering a ballot initiative that would impose a one-time 5% “billionaire tax” on net worth, calculated retroactively. While it’s marketed as a tax on the ultra-wealthy, its design raises a much broader concern: it taxes ownership itself, not income.

That distinction matters.

A wealth tax requires people to pay taxes on assets they haven’t sold and may not generate cash. Businesses, investments, and equity stakes are not bank accounts. Taxing them as if they were can force asset sales simply to cover a tax bill—turning ownership into a liability.

California has been down this road before. In the 1970s, rising property values led to tax bills disconnected from people’s ability to pay. Voters responded with Proposition 13, rejecting a system that treated unrealized value like income. This proposal repeats that same mistake, only with faster consequences and far more mobile capital.

Supporters describe the tax as “one-time,” but nothing prevents it from happening again. Once the state builds the machinery to tax wealth—valuing private assets, enforcing payment, and setting precedent—it becomes easier to expand. That uncertainty undermines confidence in property rights and the rules Californians rely on to invest, build, and plan for the future.

This is not about defending billionaires. It’s about defending a principle that affects everyone: ownership should not be taxed as if it were income.

California can fund public services without crossing that line. Sign this petition to oppose wealth taxes that punish ownership and to reject a policy that risks repeating past mistakes.