California Considers Billionaire Tax to Offset Federal Food Benefit Cuts

Greer Dove, a single mother in California, spends her time caring for her 8-year-old daughter and working an administrative job at a community college. Each week, she visits the Marin County food bank to pick up vegetables, fruits and other staples to supplement her federal food benefits. Dove has been on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for six years and has relied on the food bank for more than three. Before that, she regularly skipped meals to make sure her daughter had enough.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed by President Donald Trump in June, cuts more than $186 billion from SNAP over the next decade to offset income tax reductions. According to estimates, about 3 million people nationwide—including 665,000 in California—will lose food benefits. Andrew Cheyne, government relations director at the California Association of County Welfare Directors, calls this an “existential threat to food assistance.”

To respond, California proposes a one-time 5% levy on the assets of over 200 billionaires living in the state. The initiative has collected more than 1.5 million signatures since April and is likely to appear on the November midterm ballot. The roughly $100 billion expected from the tax would fill gaps in health insurance and food benefits created by OBBBA, with 10% earmarked specifically for food.

In California, more than 5.3 million people currently receive food assistance—the highest of any state. The impact of the cuts began in April, when 72,000 immigrants lost eligibility. Starting in June, nearly 600,000 beneficiaries faced new work requirements: homeless people, seniors, foster youth and veterans must now work, study or volunteer to keep their benefits. If they fail to meet the requirement for three months, they are cut off.

Brian Galle, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-author of the tax bill, argues that in an economy with “increasingly precarious employment,” nutritional needs remain constant but incomes do not. At La Ofrenda food bank in San Francisco’s Mission District, the number of new registrants is rising. Gladys Lee, who worked as a Hyatt hotel housekeeper for three decades, had to stop due to a back injury. After seven years unemployed, she now takes a 45-minute train ride to collect charity food. People like her face “impossible choices” between rent and food, says Keely O’Brien, an advocate at the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

Nationwide, SNAP enrollment fell by more than 3.3 million in the six months from July 2025 to January 2026. In California, Calfresh rolls dropped by 288,000 (6%) over the same period. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says this reflects an “economic recovery and job growth.” But data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the unemployment rate has held steady at 4.4% since July 2025.

To fight the billionaire tax, California tech entrepreneurs have mobilized. Google co-founder Sergey Brin spent over $57 million opposing it, calling the tax an “economic 9/11.” He has floated two competing proposals to the billionaire levy. Writing in the New York Times, Brin said: “I fled socialism with my family in 1979. I don’t want California to fall into that trap.” Kris Cuaresma-Primm, partnership director for the coalition backing the tax, says: “We know we’ll be outgunned financially, but we’ll keep messaging that the wave of pain from these cuts is coming.”

Professor Daniel Shaviro of New York University points out that even if the tax passes, Governor Gavin Newsom—who opposes the plan—may not prioritize enforcement. However, most candidates in the June 2 primary to replace Newsom also reject the billionaire tax, with the exception of billionaire Tom Steyer. Meanwhile, Greer Dove fears losing her benefits: “The anxiety is building. I could be next.”