Last month, Washington State passed a 9.9% tax on millionaires. A similar 5% “billionaires’ tax” is under consideration in California.

Requiring the wealthiest capitalists to put a greater share of their yearly income towards fund social services would be a welcome development, but can these “tax the rich” initiatives really make the billionaires pay?

A response to austerity

Thanks to austerity and rising wealth inequality, there’s wide public support for taxing the rich. Washington State’s millionaires’ tax arrived in the wake of federal cuts to the tune of $1.1 billion. As of December, the poorest 20% of Washington families were paying 13.8% of their total income in taxes, while those in the top 1% paid only 4.1%. It comes as no surprise that nearly two-thirds of voters supported the proposed tax in a November 2025 poll, while only 29% opposed it.

Washington Governor Bob Ferguson says the tax revenue may be used to expand a tax relief program for low-income families, provide more funding to schools, reduce taxes on small businesses, and eliminate sales tax on necessities like hygiene and baby products.

Similarly, the proposed California billionaires’ tax aims to fund healthcare in the wake of massive federal cuts, which are expected to deprive the state’s healthcare system of $100 billion over the next five years. Small percentages of the funding would be directed to public education and food assistance programs. The tax is popular among Californians, with roughly half saying they would support the bill if the referendum were held today, and 28% opposing it.

Unsurprisingly, Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California with ties to several Silicon Valley billionaires, came out against the tax, saying, “I’ll do what I have to do to protect the state.” Newsom’s attempts to block the proposal make it clear exactly who he is trying to protect: the billionaires.

In both states, capitalists are already ganging up to challenge the taxes in court and through alternative ballot measures. A handful of billionaires, including Google cofounder Sergey Brin and Palantir cofounder Peter Thiel, have spent nearly $64 billion on Super Pacs with names like “Building a Better California” and “California Business Roundtable” to fight the billionaires’ tax.

Capital flight

In fact, many capitalists have already left for states where they can live off their ill-gotten wealth in peace.
Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced his move from Seattle to Miami last month. He’s only the latest billionaire—including Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Larry Ellison, and others—who recently jumped ship from Washington or California to Florida, a state with no income tax. Companies tied to the billionaires are moving too, with many corporate headquarters shifting from the West Coast to Texas, Nashville, and Miami.

This “wealth exodus” has already shifted $27 billion in potential tax revenue out of California and will likely have similar effects in Washington. If the billionaires are allowed to get away, these moves will neutralize the intended gains from the taxes for healthcare, schools, and working-class families.

A majority of Californians surveyed were concerned about capital flight, and 67% were worried about “middle-class Californians facing higher taxes to replace lost revenue.” Even if the California tax succeeds, it’s a one-time tax on the billionaires’ net worth, and they’re likely to protest by moving their money elsewhere.

The first step to combatting capital flight is to extend these wealth taxes nationally. But even that won’t be enough. In addition, any capitalist who tries to dodge taxes by moving money abroad should have their wealth expropriated.

Make the billionaires pay

Communists support taxing the rich, which could provide much-needed gains in living conditions for the working class. But with the loopholes and resources at the billionaires’ disposal, it is not possible to simply “tax them out of existence.” How can we successfully make the billionaires pay?

If we want to be able to use this stolen value productively in society, we need to abolish the system that creates billionaires and millionaires in the first place. On the basis of the workers’ struggle, we must expropriate all the parasitic billionaires, and use their massive wealth to fuel a thriving socialist economy run under democratic workers’ control.

A planned socialist economy could provide permanent gains for healthcare, education, housing, and more, without forcing the workers to fight for crumbs like the doomed reforms of today. The Revolutionary Communists of America are building the party that will fight alongside the workers and lead our class in our historic task of expropriating the billionaires and transforming society.