Valuetainment - April 30, 2026


＂This Is SOVIET UNION Socialism＂ - California's Wealth Tax OFFICIALLY Hits The Ballot


Episode Stats


Length

10 minutes

Words per minute

200.86765

Word count

2,099

Sentence count

160

Harmful content

Toxicity

7

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

The push for a new tax on California billionaires has reached a major milestone. Google's Sergey Brin compares California's proposed billionaire's tax to Soviet-style socialism. Governor Gavin Newsom has already come out against the idea, arguing that it could hurt the state s economy and budget if it drives California s wealthiest residents to relocate.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
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00:00:27.820 California's billionaire tax could kill 100,000 California jobs and revenue,
00:00:36.780 and apparently they got enough signatures to be on the November ballot.
00:00:41.700 Is this it, Rob?
00:00:42.540 Yes.
00:00:42.720 If they're celebrating it, go for it.
00:00:44.700 The push for a new tax on California billionaires has reached a major milestone.
00:00:50.180 This morning, a coalition of health care workers announced that they've collected enough signatures
00:00:54.800 to put the initiative on the November ballot.
00:00:57.820 The proposal, known as the billionaire's tax, is a one-time 5% tax on Californians with a net worth of a billion dollars or more.
00:01:06.420 The measure is backed by the SEIU United Healthcare Workers West.
00:01:11.000 Renee Saldana is a spokesperson for the union.
00:01:13.960 She says the money would go to help keep hospitals open and protect access.
00:01:18.080 People were excited to sign this.
00:01:21.140 People understood the stakes that our health care system is going to be stripped of $100 billion.
00:01:26.440 just in California, and they want to keep their hospital open,
00:01:30.760 they want to keep their ER open,
00:01:31.980 they want to make sure that they can still get health care when they need it.
00:01:34.760 But even if this makes it to the...
00:01:36.680 Keep it going, even if it makes it on the ballot.
00:01:38.720 ...to face a major fight.
00:01:40.560 Governor Gavin Newsom has already come out against the billionaire's tax,
00:01:44.360 arguing that it could hurt the state's economy and budget
00:01:47.100 if it drives California's wealthiest residents to relocate.
00:01:50.620 Google co-founder Sergey Brin has already...
00:01:53.240 You can pause it right there.
00:01:53.960 So they needed 875 signatures.
00:01:56.940 They got $1.55 million already.
00:01:58.720 So we know it's going to be on the ballot.
00:02:00.520 It's a big talk with a lot of people.
00:02:02.060 Lots of people have left.
00:02:03.220 Sergey Brin just came out and made comments about this.
00:02:06.820 He says, brutal way Google Sergey Brin told Gavin Newsom he was ditching California.
00:02:11.700 California Gavin Newsom apparently felt sick literally after he found out that one of the most inflational tech figures were quitting the state.
00:02:17.040 Back in December at a treehouse party north of San Francisco, the Google founder, Sergey Brin, confronted Democratic governor.
00:02:23.060 Bryn, one of the wealthiest man, told Newsom he was leaving the state.
00:02:26.320 He mentioned a proposed tax on billionaires, which would hit $260 billion net worth hard.
00:02:32.120 Newsom was reportedly cold and hungry when Bryn and his girlfriend spoke with him at the Christmas event.
00:02:37.820 He made some comments talking about, is there the clip there on what he says, Rob?
00:02:40.840 He said something about he left a socialist.
00:02:45.820 Where's the part where he says that?
00:02:47.200 There's a quote about him saying there's a reason why he left a socialist state.
00:02:51.480 Next story from Forbes.
00:02:53.060 The next story from Forbes.
00:02:56.200 Adamant Lee Brento moved to the back of the Republican Party.
00:02:59.000 Trying to see where that quote is, Rob.
00:03:00.660 If you want to find it, I'll read it to you.
00:03:03.720 There's a quote there he says about the socialists.
00:03:05.960 Anyways, yeah, Google billionaire Sergey Brin compares California war tax
00:03:09.020 to Soviet Union socialism on why he's leaving.
00:03:11.620 So, John, you're there.
00:03:12.900 You're in Palo Alto.
00:03:14.100 What are you hearing?
00:03:15.840 Well, I'm hearing my colleague, Josh Rau, at Hoover,
00:03:19.480 who has done some of the best analysis of this, which is,
00:03:22.540 Yep, the billionaires are on the way out.
00:03:24.800 Don't slam the door behind you.
00:03:26.800 And, in fact, the state is going to lose money, not just on this tax.
00:03:31.020 When the billionaires leave, you don't get to tax their future income going forward.
00:03:34.460 So we're going to leave.
00:03:36.160 California is so weighted towards a high income on their taxes.
00:03:39.440 They're going to actually lose money on it.
00:03:41.400 He had a great debate with Emmanuel Saez, an economist who was one of the big brains behind this thing.
00:03:47.500 Saez was quite honest.
00:03:48.660 It wasn't about raising revenue.
00:03:50.140 It's about getting rid of billionaires.
00:03:51.400 He thinks that if you can get rid of the billionaires' wealth, you'll reduce their political power.
00:03:57.240 That's an interesting theory.
00:03:58.400 Do you agree with that?
00:03:59.040 No.
00:04:00.140 Anywhere they go, they're going to have political power.
00:04:02.260 Well, I also disagree with the idea that what's wrong with America right now is the billionaires have political power.
00:04:07.300 By the way, dear lefties, most of the billionaires are lefties.
00:04:11.680 They're pushing for climate change and inequity and all the other stuff.
00:04:15.900 Kings, too.
00:04:16.880 But in America, look at Trump.
00:04:20.460 Trump was, with some money, able to disrupt a political system
00:04:24.220 that otherwise would have been in the hands of a blob.
00:04:28.040 If you get rid of the billionaire's political power,
00:04:31.280 what they're saying is we want that power in the hands of the government,
00:04:34.540 which is the 250th anniversary of that's a bad idea.
00:04:39.440 Who was that guy that the economist said that this is about?
00:04:42.080 Give him credit, being honest about it.
00:04:44.200 This is a political move.
00:04:46.060 We've talked about this before,
00:04:47.420 you know the demonization of successful people they want to bring back the guillotine and that
00:04:51.600 you know exactly this is about creating a villain get rid of the uh get rid of the rich you talk
00:04:55.840 about you know we need to create a god and we need to have a savior well the other part of that is we
00:04:59.440 also need to have a villain and politics is about crafting a story the story usually has a billion
00:05:04.940 a savior of the the protagonist and then there has to be a villain on the other side of it and
00:05:09.900 they've decided that the billionaires are our villains i want to give them some some credit
00:05:13.400 for cleverness. Now, most wealth tax proposals, like the French one, is we're going to take one
00:05:17.580 or two percent of your wealth a year. Which when you think about it, you know, if you're getting
00:05:20.880 a two percent return, a two percent wealth tax gets rid of the entire return. So it's a huge,
00:05:25.880 even two percent is a huge tax. The problem with that is then people don't save and invest anymore.
00:05:29.860 Right. In economic theory, a one-time wealth tax that nobody expects is in fact a great tax
00:05:36.160 because you can't distort savings investment. The problem is one time. Everybody instantly
00:05:42.040 chuckles when you say one time we're never doing this again so that's clearly why that's not going
00:05:46.780 to brandon yeah i mean um i'd love to see the billionaires california get together and advocate
00:05:51.320 for an audit of all the things that california has you know wasted money on like all the black
00:05:55.580 holes whether it be the the high speed railway whether it be the 24 billion that disappeared
00:05:59.940 that was supposed to go towards the homeless whether it be um was it the calper 85 000 per
00:06:05.640 homeless person and what do you get more homeless people right i wonder why so where did that go
00:06:10.600 It went into the NGO industrial complex is where it went.
00:06:14.800 Yeah, exactly.
00:06:15.180 Well, that's the lie at the heart of all this, right?
00:06:16.880 The choice that they're giving these people is either we tax the billionaires or you have no hospitals.
00:06:21.500 Right. 0.87
00:06:21.780 Which is absolutely ridiculous. 0.94
00:06:22.540 Absolutely false. 0.98
00:06:23.500 That is absolutely ridiculous. 0.90
00:06:24.480 And it's false that Medicare is being cut. 0.97
00:06:26.000 Right, right.
00:06:26.740 So why don't we don't build the bullet train to nowhere and take that money because there's about $100 billion there, or at least there would have been.
00:06:32.960 That would have paid for this.
00:06:34.540 I mean, it's all about political narrative and story.
00:06:37.480 What could happen for you to leave California?
00:06:39.760 Anything?
00:06:41.500 You've got four kids, two grandkids, you've got a family.
00:06:44.400 Would anything happen for you to leave?
00:06:46.680 Yes.
00:06:47.740 Due to climate change, the weather in Texas becomes like the weather in Palo Alto.
00:06:54.300 Oh, and somehow some mountains spring up, and you're just outside of Austin where I can go skiing.
00:06:58.740 So you would?
00:06:59.420 I think it's funny that Newsom is finally, you know, he'd like to be president.
00:07:03.980 And the billionaire tax is where you can see.
00:07:07.480 We can already film the campaign commercials.
00:07:09.760 How about a viaduct for the unbuilt high-speed train,
00:07:12.940 which will be the ruins of progressive state that our grandchildren will go see?
00:07:16.760 Or maybe the houses that are still burned down in the Palisades
00:07:20.800 that are still completely unrebuilt because they can't get permits.
00:07:24.280 Good luck, Gavin.
00:07:25.560 So is it at a point where you're talking to your family and saying you may leave?
00:07:29.840 Are you there yet?
00:07:32.720 Too much inertia.
00:07:33.800 Too much inertia.
00:07:34.880 I love my home, and I don't have a billion dollars.
00:07:37.580 If you guys pay me a little more for this.
00:07:39.100 If you think they're going to stop at a billion dollars.
00:07:41.340 They're coming for you, too.
00:07:43.160 They're coming for you.
00:07:44.120 They're going to say free market capitalists. 0.98
00:07:45.800 Maybe the guillotine.
00:07:46.840 That's when you go. 0.97
00:07:47.680 Professor, senior fellow, tax them.
00:07:49.620 If you work out, even before the billionaire tax, you work out with a total marginal tax rate.
00:07:54.440 I earn an extra dollar.
00:07:56.260 How much federal, state, local, property tax, sales tax, excise tax, all the rest of it that you pay in the high-tax states, California and New York.
00:08:03.560 It is just astounding.
00:08:05.320 The idea there's room to tax the rich.
00:08:07.560 is when, then I ask people, okay, well, isn't that why they're taxing wealth?
00:08:10.920 They say you can't tax the income anymore. We've got to tax the wealth.
00:08:13.840 We should raise the taxes on the rich and ask, what do you think the rich are paying now?
00:08:17.400 And usually they have no clue.
00:08:19.620 Yeah, the top 1% pays 41% of taxes.
00:08:22.100 And that's the average.
00:08:23.140 So the marginal, if I earn an extra dollar, is even higher.
00:08:26.040 I figure it's above 60%.
00:08:27.520 Above 60% that the top 1% is paying.
00:08:30.060 Yeah, absolutely.
00:08:30.620 But the campaign, the top 1%, they need to pay their fair share.
00:08:35.240 That's the campaign that's happened.
00:08:36.500 For those of you guys that are small business owners or you're executives, you've got big plans for 2026.
00:08:43.180 We host an event once a year.
00:08:44.360 It's a Super Bowl of our events.
00:08:46.100 And it went from a small event that we had to now, you know, expecting 12,000 people this year.
00:08:51.620 It's a phenomenal event to go to.
00:08:54.120 Here's why.
00:08:54.640 Rob, go ahead and play the clip.
00:08:56.200 23 years old, I've gone to four to ten business conferences every year.
00:08:59.640 It doesn't matter if it's a family conference, generational wealth conference, you know, investment conference,
00:09:04.820 where to invest your money or raising your family
00:09:07.220 or even a revival church conference.
00:09:09.080 I wanted to put a business conference together
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00:09:15.640 and nobody walks on eggshells.
00:09:17.980 And that's exactly what we did with the Vol Conference.
00:09:20.060 The first one we hosted, 440 people showed up.
00:09:22.540 I had no idea how many people were going to show up.
00:09:24.380 Now, for the first time, we're coming to the MGM Grand Arena.
00:09:27.320 The lion's right behind me, Leo the lion.
00:09:28.900 And we're expecting 12,000 people August 31st until September 3rd to cover this manual, 296 pages.
00:09:37.860 If you've never attended the Vol Conference, do yourself a favor.
00:09:41.400 Bring your wife, bring your husband, bring your kids, bring your peers, bring your clients and business owners.
00:09:45.460 I cannot wait to see you here at Las Vegas MGM Grand Arena for the first time at the Vol Conference.
00:09:51.160 We'll see you here.
00:09:52.080 We have people that came for the first time and they've never missed it, and now they bring 50.
00:09:56.200 we had one company that brought 150 employees of theirs last year to the
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00:10:00.820 If you're somebody that wants,
00:10:02.320 and we're about to make the announcement with speakers as well here pretty
00:10:04.380 soon, click on a QR code, go on the link below or Rob,
00:10:07.280 what's the website, by the way, the vault conference.com.
00:10:10.040 At the vault conference.com.
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00:10:14.200 If you can go to the vault conference.com, get yourself a ticket,
00:10:18.340 your spouse, your business partners, your sales guys.
00:10:21.280 And let's spend four days together in Las Vegas, August 31st,
00:10:24.280 through the 3rd of September.