California Governor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he wants the state to impose a 100 percent tax on any resident who receives monetary relief through the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
Newsom, a Democrat who has fervently pushed back against President Donald Trump’s policies, told reporters he was thinking of ideas to combat the $1.776 billion fund that would allow anyone who believes they have been wrongly prosecuted to request taxpayer money.
“Anyone from California that receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100 percent of those proceeds and that’s an action the state of California can take,” Newsom said during a press conference.
Newsom indicated the new tax would be implemented either through the state legislature or as a ballot measure, saying it would need “your support.”
It’s the latest effort by Trump’s opponents to push back against the unusual multi-billion-dollar fund that emerged as a settlement from a lawsuit between Trump, his adult sons, and his business and the IRS. The DOJ has sought to justify the fund by insisting the Trumps would not be eligible for a portion of it and that it’s open to anyone.
But lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have denounced the so-called “slush fund,” believing it would allow people such as the January 6, 2021, rioters to seek taxpayer compensation despite having once attacked the Capitol.
Newsom’s suggested tax is just the latest effort from lawmakers to oppose the fund. In New York, Democratic state assemblyman Alex Bores suggested imposing a 100 percent tax on any New Yorker who collects money from the fund.
More follows…
