Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-CA). Courtesy photo

WASHINGTON, D.C. (MPG) - Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-CA) is introducing the Keep Jobs in California Act of 2026 in response to California’s proposed wealth tax, which would apply retroactively to certain former residents of the state.

The legislation prohibits any state from imposing a retroactive tax on the assets of individuals who no longer reside in the state.

“California’s proposed wealth tax is an unprecedented attempt to chase down people who have already left as a result of the state’s poor policies,” said Rep. Kiley. “As a result, many of our state's leading job creators are leaving preemptively. No state should be allowed to reach back in time and impose a new tax on someone who no longer lives there. That is fundamentally unfair.”

The proposed "2026 Billionaire Tax Act," which proponents are aiming to place on the ballot in November, would confiscate five percent of the assets of individuals with a net worth of $1 billion or more who resided in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026.

Several prominent business leaders have announced they are leaving California in response to the wealth tax proposal, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.

The bill will officially be introduced on Friday.

To read the bill text, visit: https://d12t4t5x3vyizu.cloudfront.net/kiley.house.gov/uploads/2026/02/Keep-Jobs-in-California-Act-Te...

To watch Rep. Kiley's floor remarks on the proposed wealth tax, visit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uByQSR6hNjC8a9MSssEpJITRQK7nWNkH/view