There’s a simple truth most people agree on: when times get tough, everyone should do their fair share.
In Milpitas, we’re living that truth every day. Our city may be called the gateway to Silicon Valley, but behind that label are families stretched thin, seniors choosing between food and medication, and healthcare workers trying to hold a fragile system together.
I know this from experience. For 19 years, I’ve worked in our community, caring for elders and patients with chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease — people who worked their entire lives, paid their taxes, and now depend on Medicare and Medicaid to survive.
Many of my patients live on fixed incomes. Nearly all agree money is tight. I’ve even had patients tell me that they’re living in their cars, or skipping doctor visits, because they can’t afford another insurance bill.
Now California is facing $100 billion in federal healthcare cuts, and I’m terrified about what will happen to my patients, and families across our community, if billionaires aren’t asked to pitch in.
When healthcare services are cut, the impact hits everyone at once. Hospitals and emergency rooms feel it immediately, as people delay care until a small problem becomes a medical crisis. That’s the reality many Milpitas families are living with right now, and it will only get worse as more cuts take effect. That’s why the California Billionaire Tax Act is so essential.
This ballot measure asks California’s 200 billionaires — those with billions, not millions — to pay a one-time 5% emergency billionaire tax to help protect healthcare, food assistance, and educational support for schools. It’s designed to be fair and enforceable, so no one can dodge responsibility by moving assets or gaming the system.
This isn’t about punishing success. It’s about acknowledging that extreme wealth didn’t happen in a vacuum. Billionaires have benefited from public schools and universities, public infrastructure, and a workforce supported by our healthcare system — even as tax loopholes have allowed them to contribute less and less.
Since the pandemic, healthcare workers have been asked to do more with less. Now, with enormous federal healthcare cuts looming, the situation is becoming even more dire. These cuts aren’t abstract. They affect real people here in Milpitas and strain hospitals like Santa Clara Valley Medical Center — often the last safety net for families who have nowhere else to turn.
I hear people say they don’t want to get involved in anything political. But healthcare cuts are already happening — and to me this isn’t political, it’s personal. Times are getting tough, and it’s time for billionaires to do their fair share.
I care deeply about my patients and community – so much so that I spoke to the media and appeared on CBS News to raise awareness about the importance of California’s proposed billionaire tax.
If we care about our children, our elders, and our community, we can’t stay silent. Tell your family, friends and neighbors about the billionaire tax, and how it will protect healthcare for all Californians.
Seema Kanani is a Milpitas resident and a licensed clinical social worker in Kaiser Permanente in Milpitas.
Read original on Milpitas Beat.
