Gavin Newsom tells Elon Musk ‘trillionaires next’ after Butt-Head meme mocks tax push

WASHINGTON, DC: California Governor Gavin Newsom's online sparring match with Elon Musk took a sharper turn on Saturday, June 27, after the billionaire mocked him with a Butt-Head meme and Newsom responded by directly calling him out over California subsidies.

The latest exchange marked a new chapter in the growing public feud between the two high-profile figures, with Newsom using the opportunity to double down on his billionaire tax proposal while taking a direct swipe at Musk's business interests.

Gavin Newsom responds to Elon Musk's Butt-Head meme with tax warning

The clash escalated after Musk responded to one of Newsom's earlier billionaire tax posts with a Butt-Head meme on social media.

Instead of ignoring the jab, Newsom fired back by taking aim directly at Musk.

"Don't worry, we'll be taxing trillionaires even more. Time to cough up after all that California corporate welfare!" the California governor wrote.

Unlike the earlier discussion surrounding Newsom's billionaire tax proposal, this response singled out Musk by tying the tax debate to the government support businesses have received in California.

The back-and-forth transformed the issue from a policy debate into a public confrontation between two of America's most recognizable political and business figures.

Gavin Newsom expands billionaire tax proposal with trillionaire warning

Newsom's response came shortly after he outlined his broader economic vision in a Substack opinion piece published on Friday, June 26.

In the post titled 'It's time for a national billionaires tax and a new social compact,' the governor argued that America needs what he described as "an economic reset."

He renewed his push for a national billionaire tax, including what he called "a true minimum tax on billionaires and those with a net worth of $100 million."

Newsom also proposed creating a national public equity fund that would allow Americans to share in the financial gains generated by the artificial intelligence industry.

The governor framed the widening wealth gap as one of the country's biggest economic challenges and made it a central part of his agenda..

Gavin Newsom says wealth inequality is breaking America's economy

In the same opinion piece, Newsom argued that wealth has become increasingly concentrated among a small percentage of Americans.

"When 10% of the people in this country own two-thirds of the wealth, when we have minted the first trillionaire in human history, and yet your wages have stagnated, and your healthcare costs have skyrocketed, something is fundamentally broken," he wrote.

He also claimed the country's economic system has increasingly benefited those at the very top.

"Over the decades, the American economy has been engineered for the very top, a story as old as time: Money buys influence, and influence rewrites the rules. Those rewritten rules funnel even more wealth to the few. Under this weight, democracy itself starts to buckle," Newsom added.

Those comments became the backdrop for his latest response to Musk, with the governor expanding the debate beyond billionaires and declaring that "trillionaires" should expect to pay even more.

Elon Musk's trillionaire milestone fuels Gavin Newsom's latest jab

Musk's status as the world's wealthiest person has become an even bigger talking point in recent days after SpaceX shares surged following the company's IPO.

The stock opened above its initial offering price and later climbed to $150 per share after debuting at $135, adding hundreds of billions of dollars to Musk's net worth.

Estimates cited Friday afternoon put his fortune at roughly $1.2 trillion, making him the first person to cross the trillionaire milestone and giving fresh context to Newsom's pointed remark about taxing "trillionaires next.”