For Immediate Release, September 30, 2026
Contact: David Kline (916) 893-2614 or [email protected]
SACRAMENTO – After admitting that Proposition 40 is “an experiment” that likely would be followed by additional taxes on Californians’ assets, one of the French coauthors of the wealth tax measure is scheduled to speak tonight at a Stanford Law School event.
Gabriel Zucman, a professor at the Paris School of Economics and the University of California at Berkeley, recently stated that “California could absolutely implement an annual wealth tax – this one-time tax is just the starting point of what could be.”
California Taxpayers Association President Robert Gutierrez noted that the remarks by Zucman and other coauthors of the measure illustrate the danger that Proposition 40 presents for all taxpayers.
“It has been clear since day one that the authors of the ‘billionaire tax’ see Proposition 40 as the first step toward taxing assets held by all residents, not the final destination,” Gutierrez said. “This measure is already damaging our economy and state revenue. California voters should make it clear that our state isn’t going to be the testing ground for their dangerous ‘experiment.’”
Professor Emmanuel Saez, another French economist and UC Berkeley faculty member who helped write Proposition 40, also characterized the measure as a test for additional wealth taxes.
“It’s going to be an experiment,” Saez said. “We see the results, and then we decide whether that experiment works, is promising. … If there is another one, I don’t think it’s going to be a one-time tax.”
See WhoWroteProp40.org for more statements and videos from the Proposition 40 coauthors.