COMMONSENSE MEASURE WILL SAVE JOBS AND KEEP LOCAL EMERGENCY ROOMS OPEN THROUGH ONE-TIME TAX ON BILLIONAIRES
San Jose, Calif. — California’s billionaires pay much lower tax rates than what working families pay out of every paycheck. And now, massive federal funding cuts have begun to push key parts of the California healthcare system to the brink of collapse, including many hospitals and clinics serving residents in Alameda and Santa Clara counties.
To stop these dire consequences, Assembly Member Alex Lee (24th District- encompassing Fremont, Newark, Sunol, Milpitas, and northern San Jose) is entering the battle, calling on billionaires to pay their fair share. Over the course of his career in public service, Lee has long been a leading advocate for wealth tax legislation.
“While emergency rooms close, clinics disappear, and working families grapple with rising healthcare costs, we cannot keep pretending there’s no money. There is money, and it’s time billionaires paid their fair share to keep the hospitals and emergency rooms that we all rely on open,” said Alex Lee, California Assembly Member for District 24. “I’m proud to support the Billionaire Tax, and I urge everyone to join me in voting YES this November!”
Several local hospitals in the area are at risk of closing because of federal healthcare cuts. They include:
- Regional Medical Center in East San Jose
- O’Connor Hospital in San Jose
- St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy
- Washington Hospital in Fremont
As federal healthcare cuts from H.R. 1 begin to rip healthcare away from millions of Californians, Lee is joining a growing list of lawmakers supporting a one-time 5% emergency tax on California’s roughly 200 billionaires as a direct response to the massive cuts. The commonsense measure is designed to ensure that billionaires pay their fair share to stabilize and protect the state’s vast healthcare system, including hospitals, nursing homes, community health centers, and home care services. The California Billionaire Tax coalition also recently filed more than 1.5 million signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
“Healthcare workers are tired of being asked to do more with less while the richest billionaires in the state don’t contribute their fair share to keep hospitals open,” said Tonya Austin-Lopez, medical assistant at Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center.
The more than 400 hospitals statewide have already laid off more than 3,400 healthcare workers as of mid-March, with a second wave of layoffs expected as funding cuts tied to recent federal policy changes are phased in over the next several years. Statewide, projections show the cuts could result in the loss of up to 145,000 healthcare jobs, impacting hospitals, clinics, and home care providers alike.
Without revenue from the California Billionaire Tax, federal healthcare cuts are expected to put an estimated 83 California hospitals and clinics at risk of closure. Cuts and closures have already started, impacting communities from Los Angeles to Oakland to Glenn County.
In November, California voters will at last have a chance to make billionaires pay their fair share to help prevent that, through a commonsense ballot initiative that places a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of approximately 200 billionaires who reside in the Golden State. Ninety percent of that funding will go to offset Medi-Cal cuts in order to prevent ER and other service closures, and 10% will go toward funding food assistance and public education.
About the California Billionaire Tax Act
The California Billionaire Tax Act proposes a one-time emergency tax on the wealth of the state’s ultra-high-net-worth individuals to safeguard Medi-Cal, keep hospitals and emergency rooms open, expand food assistance, and support public education. The initiative is a direct response to federal healthcare cuts under HR1 that threaten healthcare access and economic stability for millions of Californians.
| Paid for by Save California Health Care and Public Education, Sponsored by Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West. Committee’s Top Funder Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West |
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