Billionaire investment guru Ray Dalio is warning that the California billionaire tax isn’t the answer to inequality — issuing a stark two-word wake-up call on the controversial wealth tax.
Dalio raised the alarm about spiraling inequality and debt but called the billionaire tax — which will hit California ballots in November after gathering 1.6 million signatures — a “bubble popper” that could blow up the economy.
“Wealth is different from money,” the Bridgewater Associates founder explained in a CNBC interview.
“You have to sell wealth to spend money,” Dalio said. “People then have to sell some of that wealth. But now you have a wealth tax, which is causing people to move to different states and other issues.”
“Theses things are going to intensify,” he added.
Daliio isn’t alone in his concerns about unintended consequences of the billionaire tax, which would impose a one-time, 5% levy on the total wealth of California billionaires.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin blasted the tax plan in a rare public statement — invoking his childhood in Soviet Russia.
“I fled socialism with my family in 1979 and know the devastating, oppressive society it created in the Soviet Union,” Brin told the New York Times.
“I don’t want California to end up in the same place,” the tech titan added.
Others are warning that the wealth tax could tank the state’s economy, sending jobs and spending elsewhere.
Stop the Squeeze, a group led by investor Ron Conway that opposes the tax, commissioned a report which found more than 108,000 jobs could be lost and $28 billion in wages wiped out if the tax takes effect.
Another study estimated that at least 40 ultra-wealthy Californians would leave the state — taking with them roughly half of the $2 trillion held by billionaires.
“The progress of the measure should be a wake-up call for every Californian,” Republican Rep. Vince Fong, who represents California’s 20th congressional district in the Central Valley, told The Post. “A wealth tax won’t fix California’s problems, it will make them worse. Pushing out the very taxpayers and job creators California depends on only deepens budget instability and threatens long-term growth.”
A majority of voters surveyed believe the billionaire tax could drive businesses out of California (64%), push billionaires to leave (54%) and hurt future tax revenue (59%), according to UC Berkeley/Politico.
One powerful business group, the California Business Roundtable, is worried the billionaire tax could open the door to tax hikes on everyday Californians.
In a memo obtained by The Post, California Business Roundtable President Rob Lapsley argued that California legislators could amend the tax to target lower earners. A clause in the proposed law states that lawmakers can change the tax through a two-thirds vote in the Assembly and Senate.
“While proponents say this tax only applies to billionaires, the Wealth Tax is carefully drafted to give the Legislature far broader power to amend the ‘2026 Billionaire Tax Act’ than voters might expect,” Lapsley wrote.
Suzette Jimenez, chief of staff at the union and a leading backer, dismissed Lapsley’s memo as a “flat-out lie,” arguing that expanding the tax to the middle class or making it permanent would be unworkable.
“As Section 50310 of the Billionaire Tax Act says, any amendments cannot change the fundamental purpose of the act, which is to impose a one-time tax on billionaires,” she said.
Polling suggests a tight race.
About half of California voters support the measure, while 28% oppose it and 23% remain undecided, according to UC Berkeley/Politico.
