The billionaire tax, aka the California Billionaire Tax Act, has officially garnered enough signatures to head to the November ballot, and you can rest assured the billionaire class is most unhappy about it — and so is Newsom.

The state of California announced Wednesday that it had confirmed enough signatures on the petition for the billionaire tax to head to the ballot.

Petitioners had submitted well more than the 874,641 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, around 1.5 million as we reported in April, and the billionaire tax that we've been hearing about as a hypothetical thing since sometime last year is going to be potentially made real. As KTLA reports, unless the proponents of the California Billionaire Tax Act withdraw it, it will formally qualify and head for the ballot as of June 25.

The tax measure was filed by SEIU - United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), and is backed by multiple labor unions and some progressives like Bernie Sanders. It would impose a one-time, 5% tax on individuals' assets who have a net worth of $1 billion or more, and billionaires around the state have been scrambling either to establish residency elsewhere, to give money to the "No" campaign, and/or to seek legal advice about how to shield or exempt their assets in the event that the measure passes.

We already have seen billionaires Mark Zuckerber and his wife Priscilla Chan buying property near Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner in Miami, likely to try to establish residency there and not pay their full share in California. Because what's another $50 million when you've got a $240 billion fortune to protect?

But the coalition that will be arguing against this billionaire tax may end up having some surprising members, and some convincing arguments to vote "No" come November. As the New York Times reports, that coalition became clearer Wednesday, with advocacy groups representing California doctors, health clinics and school boards already running early digital ads casting the measure as a "reckless wealth tax experiment" that doesn't address the long-term needs of the state.

The Times suggests this is the first spending against the proposed tax that isn't coming from billionaires themselves.

As Francisco Silva, president of the California Primary Care Association, tells the Times, "The very folks that it’s supposed to help aren’t supporting it."

Former Congresswoman Katie Porter, a progressive Democrat who ran unsuccessfully in the primary for governor, said from the debate stage that she opposed the billionaire tax for the same reason — a one-time tax is short-term thinking, and the state should instead be considering ways to tax the wealthy and fund needs like healthcare and education over the long term.

Governor Gavin Newsom, who has been staunchly opposed to the measure and says it could threaten the state's status as a hub of tech innovation, is still trying to get the measure pulled before the June 25 deadline.

Associations of doctors, nurses, and healthcare clinics are pushing for a different ballot measure that would make a tax hike on high-earners in the state, now set to expire in 2030, permanent.

"What we are looking for is stable, ongoing and durable revenue," says Dustin Corcoran, chief executive of the California Medical Association, speaking to the Times.

Labor unions have seized on the "tax the rich" message of the billionaire tax, and the union that proposed the measure, SEIU-UHW, casts that opposition as getting in bed with billionaires.

And at least one local billionaire, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, has gone on the record saying he's "perfectly fine with it."

Rather than have a multi-million-dollar fight via TV ads over the ballot measure, opponents and Newsom are hoping that the legislature can cut a deal with the proponents to raise tax revenue another way. And they have one week to do it.

Previously: ‘Billionaire Tax’ Qualifies For November Ballot, and One Local Billionaire Says He Supports It

Top image: Photo by Artur Ament