California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that his administration will impose a 100 percent tax on any California resident who receives funds from President Donald Trump’s newly established $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.
Speaking to reporters, Newsom condemned the program as a “slush fund” and pledged to block Californians from financially benefiting from it. “Anyone from California that receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100 percent of those proceeds,” Newsom stated during his press conference.
The governor criticized Trump for pardoning individuals who had beaten up police officers and then awarding them $1.776 billion: “He pardoned all of those folks that were beating up cops and absolved them, providing them 1.776 billion dollars. So not only do you get a pardon, you get rewarded. That’s why this is needed.”
The fund was created as part of Trump’s settlement with the Department of Justice following his lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. Trump has described it as restitution for Americans he claims were harmed by politically motivated government actions during the Biden administration. Last week, Trump defended the program as compensation for people “badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration.”
Democratic lawmakers in several blue states are now moving to block recipients from keeping payouts tied to the program. In New York, Democratic Assemblyman Alex Bores introduced legislation to impose a 100 percent tax on fund recipients. State Senator Mike Gianaris said Democrats in Albany are advancing similar measures before the legislative session ends next week: “There’s widespread, bipartisan agreement that this is baldfaced corruption at its worst and if we have the ability in New York to combat it by ensuring none of this money benefits anyone within our state borders, I’d expect there’d be widespread support for that idea.”
Democratic lawmakers in New Jersey are also drafting comparable legislation. State Senator Andrew Zwicker called the proposal “a brilliant counter move to Trump’s corruption.”
