By admin 
In a CNN debate last month, Democrat Xavier Becerra said his Republican rival, Steve Hilton, wanted to give a large tax break to the wealthiest Californians.
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“He wants to give the richest Californians — millionaires and billionaires — a 40% tax cut, which means, of course, he’ll take it out of our schools, he’ll take it out of health care, he’ll take it out of housing, and make the conditions even worse,” Becerra said.
Is the claim true? Here’s the full context.
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What is the source of Becerra’s claim?
Becerra’s spokesperson, Jonathan Underland, said the former attorney general sourced his claim from the tax plan on Hilton’s website.
Hilton’s tax plan calls for no state taxes on the first $150,000 in income. It also would cap remaining income taxes at 8%.
The latter move would amount to a notable drop from current levels for the highest earners, who currently pay a 13.3% income tax. In 2025, that highest rate applied to families making at least $1.48 million or individual filers who reported at least $743,000.
Put simply, Becerra is right: Under Hilton’s plan, California’s highest earners would see their state income tax bill decline by around 40%.
What effect would Hilton’s plan have on the state budget?
While there’s been no third party assessment of Hilton’s tax plan, it would likely come with a steep price tag.
The income tax is a major pillar of California’s budget. In the most recent fiscal year, state figures show it brought in a little more than $127 million.
Those revenues rely heavily on high earners. State figures from 2022, for example, show less than 1% of filers reported an income over $1 million, but those returns accounted for 35% of overall income tax revenue.
Paired with Hilton’s plan to eliminate tax on the first $150,000 of income, the plan would likely wipe out tens of millions of dollars from the state budget. In an interview, the former Fox News host said his campaign pegged the total at around $25 billion annually for each prong of his tax cut.
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How would Hilton pay for the tax cuts?
At the CNN debate, Hilton said he’d pay for his plan by eliminating high speed rail funding.
High speed rail accounts for a fixed annual appropriation of $1 billion, meaning Hilton would have to find more savings elsewhere.
In an interview Monday, Hilton said he’d target a range of other inefficient and wasteful government spending as part of his “Operation Zero Waste,” from 10% cuts to the state workforce to ending health insurance coverage for undocumented immigrants.
Hilton said his plan offered immediate relief to working class Californians, while the tax cuts on the wealthiest Californians would help grow the state’s economy.
“We’re losing to other states who have a more competitive tax system, especially Texas,” Hilton said. “I think we are facing economic collapse, for real, unless we change direction.”
But Chris Hoene, executive director of the left-leaning California Budget & Policy Center, argued any economic growth would take years to develop, if it happened at all.
In the meantime, “the tax cuts that he’s talking about would eviscerate core state services on housing, healthcare, the safety net, the ability for the state to invest in infrastructure and climate change,” Hoene said. “It’s just not a plausible plan.”
What are Becerra’s tax plans?
Becerra has said relatively little about his own tax policies. He’s expressed support for Proposition 3, which would make the existing income tax rates for high-earners permeant to fund K-12 schools and community colleges. Like Hilton, the former secretary of health and human services is opposed to Prop. 40, a one-time wealth tax on billionaires designed to backfill federal healthcare cuts.
Becerra said he’s open to addressing those cuts through “fair share,” a plan that would tax corporations based on how many employees they have on Medicaid. The details of that plan would have to be worked out in future negotiations between the Legislature and the next governor; Hilton has said he’s opposed to the idea.
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