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The California Democratic Party is supporting a proposed one-time wealth tax on billionaires of up to 5%.

Californians will decide whether to adopt the proposal during the 2026 midterm election.

The party’s executive board voted in favor of backing the proposal on Sunday, according to The Sacramento Bee.

BILLIONS IN TAXPAYER INCOME ARE LEAVING TWO ICONIC STATES — AS A NEW ECONOMIC MAP EMERGES

A supporter with the Billionaire Tax Now coalition holds a placard during a media briefing in Los Angeles on April 27, 2026. (Frederic J. BROWN / AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The San Francisco Standard reported that according to Jane Natoli, who sits on the party’s resolutions committee, an initial vote barely failed to clear the 60% bar required for ratification, earning 59.2% support. But another vote cleared the threshold, scoring about 61.7% support, the outlet noted.

As the close votes demonstrated, Democrats are divided on the issue.

SOME RICH CALIFORNIANS ARE GIVING AWAY CASH TO SKIRT THE STATE’S PROPOSED BILLIONAIRE TAX

A voting booth as a voter casts their ballot at a polling location inside Echo Park Branch Library during a primary election in Los Angeles on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., supports the proposal.

But Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited from running for re-election, has said he will vote against it. 

CONSERVATIVES FLIP SCRIPT ON NEWSOM AFTER HE DEMANDED 25TH AMENDMENT FOR TRUMP: ‘PROPPED UP A VEGETABLE’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference for a bill signing for a housing affordability reforms event in Oakland, California, on July 13, 2026. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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“But I’m voting no because this measure dedicates almost all of the revenue it raises to a single category of state spending,” he wrote in a June Substack post. “So here is what I support: A national billionaires’ tax. A true minimum tax on billionaires — a modern Buffett Rule — that ensures the people at the very top pay at least the tax rate their own workers pay.”

India, like many developing economies, “remains largely peripheral to both the origination and propagation of global imbalances; yet, we continue to face their spill-over effects”, the minister said.

Sitharaman made the statements while representing India at a virtual meeting on the Global Convergence for Growth Summit, presided over by French President Emmanuel Macron, the finance ministry said in a post on microblogging site X.

“In today’s interconnected world, prosperity and challenges are shared, but the consequences of conflicts and uncertainty fall disproportionately on developing countries and the Global South. The situation demands coordinated global action,” the minister said during her intervention at the summit.

“We must strengthen multilateral cooperation to build resilient economies, accelerate sustainable development and ensure inclusive growth that benefits all,” she added.

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The summit was held to bring together leaders of advanced and emerging economies to deliberate on ways to support a balanced and efficient global framework. The senior leadership of all the G7 nations and India, Brazil, China, Kenya, South Korea and the International Monetary Fund participated in the summit.
Making her observations on global imbalances, the minister said: “Not all imbalances are alike, some reflect differences in demographics, development stages, resource endowments, or economic structures.””Our focus should, therefore, remain on excessive and persistent imbalances while recognising that the scale of domestic needs varies significantly across countries,” she said.

Medium-term growth, MDB reforms
India’s growth is projected to remain strong at about 7% over the medium term, the minister said, stressing that the country remains the world’s fastest-expanding major economy.

The country’s growth is primarily led by domestic demand, with a largely market-determined exchange rate, she added.

Sitharaman called for better, bigger, more effective and more representative multilateral development banks (MDBs) that can deliver greater financing to developing countries and emerging economies. Bolstering their financing capacity, operational agility and responsiveness will be critical, she said.

Not all vessels are deterred from passing through because the Houthi threat is only targeted at Saudi shipping, with the total number sitting at about 50% of pre-attack levels.

But the number of ships loading crude oil for export to Asia passing through has dropped to about four per day, Kpler added, the lowest point since the start of the war.

A spokesperson for Hapag-Lloyd, the global shipping giant, said some of its vessels were still passing through the Red Sea but that it would “monitor developments closely and will adjust the network if circumstances change”.

“If the Strait of Hormuz reopened, most ships could probably leave the region fairly quickly. However, restoring normal cargo flows would take much longer.

“Services have been suspended and ships redeployed elsewhere, so a return to normal flows would most likely take three to four months.”

Despite the talks with Oman, Iran has said that no deal is imminent that would reopen the strait to normal traffic.

Its foreign ministry ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said any agreement would not lift the current restrictions while US “aggression” continued.

Peter Sand, chief analyst at Xeneta, another ship-tracking company, said the fighting had taken the shipping industry “back to to square one” and that things were in “a terrible state, regardless of which shipping type you’re you’re looking at”.

“The alternatives for getting cargo, whether that’s hydrocarbons or container shipping, are really not great… it is really still troubling times with no clarity and no change of fortunes within sight.”

Unions at Santander and TSB have opened negotiations over how staff in duplicate roles will be assessed for redundancy, following the completion of Santander’s acquisition of TSB from Spanish owner Sabadell.

The deal, agreed at £2.65 billion, completed on 30 April, according to Santander UK’s announcement of the completed cash acquisition. The combined group employs about 23,000 people and is targeting £400 million in cost savings.

Santander has not confirmed how many jobs will go across the enlarged business. TSB has already announced 130 redundancies ahead of the formal transfer of staff under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations, and further cuts are expected as the group pursues its savings target.

The two banks use different metrics for assessing staff performance. It is understood that unions at both are in talks about how to create a single system for evaluating individuals in the redundancy process.

One source said: “It goes without saying that in any merger there are going to be synergies that the banks will realise. And there is going to be an impact on jobs.

“There will be duplication of roles. I’m sure every role will be evaluated, wherever there are people doing similar roles.”

A spokeswoman for Santander said: “We have not yet made operational decisions on jobs [as part of the integration]. However, we will ensure that our colleagues are informed of any changes at the appropriate time.”

A spokesman for TSB said: “Whenever we make any changes to our business, the priority is to consult first with impacted colleagues to ensure they’re fully supported.”

Under government guidance on business transfers and TUPE, employees’ jobs, terms and conditions and continuity of employment usually transfer to the new owner, with redundancy among the exceptions. The regulations apply regardless of the size of the business.

Speaking to Bloomberg last year, José García Cantera, chief financial officer of Banco Santander, said cost savings would “come from projects that TSB is currently running that we will not need to do when the two banks merge”.

He said: “Yes, we think there will be savings; yes, we think these savings will offer us better products at lower cost to the customers; but not all of these costs [savings] will come from job cuts or branch closures.”

Sources said staff at Santander were broadly relieved at the merger with TSB, after news reports had at one stage suggested the bank’s Spanish owner might seek to exit the UK market entirely. It is understood some TSB staff have started looking for new jobs in anticipation of cuts.

The redundancy talks follow a separate dispute over working patterns. TSB told its workforce of about 5,000 that they will be required to work in an office three days a week from April 2027, and the TBU union is preparing to take cases to the Employment Tribunal over members it says cannot change their arrangements for personal or medical reasons. TSB did not previously have a formal office attendance requirement.

Santander has also confirmed it will retire the TSB brand and fold the lender into its UK arm, ending a name that dates to a Dumfriesshire parish savings scheme founded in 1810. TSB operates around 175 branches and has roughly five million customer accounts.

Sabadell acquired TSB from Lloyds Banking Group for £1.7 billion in 2015. Mahesh Aditya, chief risk officer of Banco Santander, took charge of Santander UK at the beginning of March to lead the integration.

Amy Ingham

Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College’s journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel’s nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.