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by\u00a0Joe Rivano Barros<\/a><\/strong> February 1, 2026 (MissionLocal.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/billionaires-march-scaled-e1769987460493-780x586.jpeg\")
A new group is advertising a \u201cMarch for Billionaires\u201d in San Francisco on Saturday \u2014 either a Swiftian attempt to parrot Silicon Valley executives who are raging against a planned California billionaire tax, or an earnest try to ward it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cVilifying billionaires is popular. Losing them is expensive,\u201d reads the group\u2019s website<\/a>, which is scant and gives no indication of who is behind the effort. The site links to BlueSky<\/a> and X<\/a> accounts \u2014 the latter is @ProBillionaires \u2014 and records<\/a> show it was created on Jan. 29. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizers say the effort is very real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Want the latest on the Mission and San Francisco? Sign up for our free daily newsletter<\/strong> below.Sign up<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe sincerely believe what we\u2019re saying,\u201d the organizers wrote in a message. \u201cWe think most American billionaires have had greatly positive societal impacts, directly and indirectly. We support wealth creation and oppose rent-seeking\/extraction, anticompetitive practices, and regulatory capture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The organizers said they were staying anonymous due to backlash \u201cand some threats\u201d online, but that they were not taking any money from billionaires or \u201coutside groups.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The goal, they said, is to challenge anti-billionaire perspectives by \u201chighlighting their contributions,\u201d and to fight the billionaire tax, which \u201cwould be particularly harmful to the startup economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The group\u2019s language mimics tech executives who have been railing against the \u201cBillionaire Tax Act,\u201d<\/a> which is being put forth by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West and would institute a one-time wealth tax on those with a net worth over $1 billion. The measure has yet to qualify for the ballot but, if successful, would tax billionaire residents 5 percent of their wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SEIU-UHW says<\/a> the tax would help backfill about $100 billion in \u201ccuts to federal healthcare funding\u201d and affect roughly 200 billionaires. The measure has received the backing of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/a>, California Rep. Ro Khanna<\/a>, and the Teamsters California union<\/a>. Khanna is working<\/a> on a compromise measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gov. Gavin Newsom opposes<\/a> it. The state office that analyzes legislation wrote<\/a> that the tax would likely add \u201ctens of billions of dollars\u201d to the California budget, but could result in ongoing tax losses of \u201chundreds of millions of dollars or more per year\u201d if billionaires flee the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Silicon Valley is rising up against it. President Donald Trump\u2019s crypto czar David Sacks called the measure an \u201casset seizure\u201d<\/a> and has reportedly left for Texas<\/a>. Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan<\/a> said<\/a> the tax would \u201cwholesale destroy business creation\u201d in the state. Anduril founder Palmery Lucky (net worth: $3.6 billion<\/a>) said<\/a> he could be \u201cscrewed for life\u201d and would be forced to \u201csell huge chunks\u201d of his stock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have relocated<\/a> dozens of limited liability companies and other business entities outside of California, and Brin has given $20 million<\/a> to a political action committee that may fight the tax. Venture capitalist Peter Thiel has given $3 million<\/a> to a similar effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The site calls billionaires \u201cvalue creators\u201d who are \u201cbuilding, not taking\u201d and lists 10 of them, including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Page and Brin, the popstar Taylor Swift, the tennis champion Roger Federer, and James Dyson, who the site says \u201cinvented the bagless vacuum cleaner after 5,127 prototypes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese billionaires didn\u2019t steal from you,\u201d it reads. \u201cThey created new products, new services, new possibilities that millions of people freely chose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n On BlueSky, the group has shared Y Combinator founder Paul Graham\u2019s well-known essay<\/a> calling for a fight against poverty rather than inequality, and a post<\/a> from Matthew Yglesias that reads, \u201cIt\u2019s time to take a bold stand in defense of America\u2019s oft-maligned billionaire class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It retweeted<\/a> a post from Tan where the CEO is wearing, unironically, a shirt<\/a> that reads, \u201cWe should have more billionaires.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The in-person march is marketed for Feb. 7 at 11 a.m. It will start at Alta Plaza Park, in tony Pacific Heights, and end with a rally at City Hall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In November, a \u201cPeople Over Billionaires\u201d march<\/a> took a similar route through the wealthy area and stopped to chant in front of multi-million dollar homes: \u201cLet\u2019s stop these money grabbing maniacs from wrecking our world!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because of you, Mission Local reached and surpassed our $300,000 year-end fundraising goal. All we can say is thank you. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you for choosing to invest in a local newsroom rooted in San Francisco\u2019s communities \u2014 one that listens first and reports deeply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you haven\u2019t yet had a chance to give, it\u2019s not too late to be part of this community. Your contribution today helps sustain the reporting our city relies on all year long.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re grateful you\u2019re here \u2014 and we\u2019d be honored to have you join our donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Donate<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n joe.rivanobarros@missionlocal.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe was born in Sweden, where half of his family received asylum after fleeing Pinochet, and then spent his early childhood in Chile; he moved to Oakland when he was eight. He attended Stanford University for political science and worked at Mission Local as a reporter after graduating. He then spent time at YIMBY Action and as a partner for the strategic communications firm The Worker Agency. He rejoined Mission Local as an editor in 2023. You can reach him on Signal @jrivanob.99.More by Joe Rivano Barros<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New group calls billionaires \u2018value creators\u2019 who are \u2018building, not taking\u2019 \u2014 and say they\u2019re not joking around by\u00a0Joe Rivano Barros February 1, 2026 (MissionLocal.org) A new group is advertising a \u201cMarch for Billionaires\u201d in San Francisco on Saturday \u2014 either a Swiftian attempt to parrot Silicon Valley executives who… Continue reading ![\"Mission](\"https:\/\/newspack-missionlocal.s3.amazonaws.com\/mission\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/mission-local-logo-300x300.jpg\"){kind=logo}
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