‘Million Dollar Listing’ star warns California’s wealth tax could backfire on working class

Luxury real estate broker and reality TV star, Josh Altman, has sounded the alarm over California's proposed wealth tax, driving billionaires out of the state and causing a "trickle-down effect" that will make the working class suffer. In an interview on Fox Business, Altman explained that his insights show a few billionaires are already planning to move to a more wealth-friendly state, and such an exodus would cost the state valuable tax money and burden the working class. 

The SEIU-UHW's billionaire tax was proposed with an aim to supplement the federal health care spending cuts with a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of billionaires in California. Under the proposed ballot initiative, this one-time tax will be due in 2027, and taxpayers will be given the option to spread payments over five years with additional non-deductible charges, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

As per reports, it would apply to about 250 people in the state whose net worth exceeds $1 billion, as of January 1, 2026. Speaking on the proposal on Fox's "Varney & Co.", Altman told veteran journalist Stuart Varney that there was no way billionaires could prevent the measure from implementation, and it would lead to an exodus. "There are about 200 to 250 billionaires in California, more than in any other state. However, there are also 40 million people in California, 23 million of whom are eligible to vote. If this hits the ballot, there is no way that the billionaires come out on top here, and that's an issue," the former "Million Dollar Listing" star said. 

He added that the same issue was caused by the ULA Measure, which was a "mansion tax" that went into effect in 2023. He claimed that he personally knew seven billionaires who have already fled California and moved to more wealth-friendly states such as Florida and Nevada.  He argued that such an exodus would cost the state tax money and have deeper implications for the working class.  "It's the trickle-down effect. It's the people, the hundreds of thousands of people who work for these billionaires. It's the trillion dollars in taxes that we're going to lose," he said. Previously, several of the state's billionaires, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Google co-founder Larry Page, have spoken out against the California Billionaire Tax Act, according to The Daily Mail.  "You know what a billionaire said to me once? He said, ‘You know what the difference is between 100 million and a billion? Nothing.’ They'll be fine. It's people that need them that are not, and we're running them out of California," Altman said in the interview. 

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