The billionaires who don’t want to pay the California billionaire tax are lining up big bucks to defeat the ballot measure, but Gavin Newsom and Daniel Lurie deny reports they will appear in ads against the billionaire tax.

The already controversial proposed California billionaire tax has not even qualified for the November ballot yet, but the billionaire class is already organizing against the measure with increasing fury. Supporters of the billionaire tax just only just started collecting signatures to qualify for the ballot this week, and they face the tall task of pulling together 900,000 signatures by April if they want to make the ballot.  

Mind you, this one-time, 5% tax on people with more than $1 billion net worth would only affect about 250 people statewide. If the billionaire tax passed, it would raise tens of billions of dollars that would counteract Trump cuts to the state’s healthcare and Medi-Cal programs. But the counterargument is that all the billionaires would flee from California, leaving the state with less tax revenue in the long run.

And the New York Times reported Wednesday that Governor Gavin Newsom and SF Mayor Daniel Lurie were joining the fight against the billionaire tax, though reps for both have since insisted they are not connected to the campaign.* Per the Times, Newsom and Lurie were both reportedly drafted in by "crypto executives and business leaders,” who are said to be cranking out some big-money advertisements, plus three competing ballot measures meant to either undermine the billionaire tax, confuse voters with similar measures, or invalidate the billionaire tax with other measures that would weaken it to the point of uselessness.  

The Times describes Newsom as “considering a presidential run in 2028,” which is completely understating it, because Gavin Newsom is absolutely running for president in 2028. The billionaire tax apparently makes Newsom skittish of California’s (well-deserved) reputation for high taxes on high-earners, and of course Gavin has to keep that ultra-wealthy donor base of his happy.

But Lurie’s addition was something of a surprise. The Times reported that the ads will feature "Democrats and Republicans alike, along with Mayor Daniel Lurie of San Francisco, a moderate Democrat and a wealthy heir to the Levi Strauss fortune."

A rep for Lurie has since denied the Times' reporting, and said that Lurie will be making no such ad. SFist has received similar denials from representatives of Governor Gavin Newsom.

That ad campaign has our old friend Ron Conway bankrolling the effort, though more high-net-worth donors are expected to be revealed in the days to come.

Meanwhile, SF’s own surveillance camera financier Chris Larsen just pumped $5 million into into an anti-billionaire-tax PAC called Golden State Promise, and the Times reports their message will be that a billionaire tax "will hurt working people" (somehow). Meanwhile, Google co-founder Sergey Brin is helping build a separate PAC called Building a Better California, which expects to pour $35 million into the three competing ballot measures that hope to undermine or cancel out the billionaire tax.

Per the Times, Team Billionaire is paying signature-gatherers $12 per valid signature they collect, while supporters of the billionaire tax are paying a reported $10 per signature.

So expect to be accosted hard by signature-gatherers whenever you visit a Safeway in the weeks and months to come.

Update: Senator Bernie Sanders, who is backing the proposed billionaire tax, held a rally in Los Angeles' Koreatown Wednesday night, as ABC 30 reports. Sanders reportedly did not mention Newsom in a 30-minute speech, and the station reports that while "Newsom has long opposed state-level wealth taxes, believing such levies would be disadvantageous for the world's fourth-largest economy... he is trying to block the proposal before it reaches the ballot."

Related: Billionaires Going Berserk on Twitter Over Proposed California Billionaire Tax [SFist]

Image: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 16: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (L) looks on with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie during a press conference at Friendship House Association of American Indians on January 16, 2026 in San Francisco, California. California Gov. Gavin Newsom joined San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie to announce new funding for homelessness and mental health efforts in the city of San Francisco. The governor announced more than $420 million in new state funding for San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego as part of the state's HHAP 6 funding, which goes toward helping local programs end homelessness through interim or permanent housing and supportive services. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

*This post has been corrected to show that Newsom's and Lurie's reps say they will not be appearing in these ads. This was based on New York Times reporting that remains uncorrected as of this writing.