Actor Mark Ruffalo is taking another swing at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, this time over the governor’s support for a ballot measure that would block new state taxes on billionaires.
In a post on X on Wednesday, the Marvel star accused Newsom of consistently siding with the wealthy over ordinary Californians, according to a report from Breitbart News. Ruffalo tied the latest dispute to Newsom’s earlier backing of the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, which the actor also opposed.
“Once again. Just like the Paramount Merger Gavin Newsom does what he always does. Sells out the working class people for the billionaires again and again,” Ruffalo wrote. He added that Newsom had endorsed a bill that would make it “impossible to tax the wealthy at all.”
What Prop 42 would do
The measure in question is Proposition 42, which would amend the state constitution to prohibit new taxes on wealth, effectively foreclosing any future effort to levy a tax on billionaires’ net worth in California. Newsom has been a vocal supporter.
In a statement, the governor framed the proposal as a safeguard for retirement accounts and personal savings. “I am proud to stand with firefighters, blue-collar unions, veterans, seniors, and small businesses in support of Prop 42,” Newsom said. “We all agree that Californians deserve to have their retirement and life savings protected from new state taxes so those savings are there when they need them.”
Ruffalo’s criticism rejects that framing. In his view, the measure is less about protecting retirees and more about shielding the state’s wealthiest residents from any future tax obligation — a charge he has leveled at Newsom before on other issues.
A pattern of criticism
The X post is not Ruffalo’s first clash with the governor. In September, the actor accused Newsom of helping President Donald Trump in connection with the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, calling the outcome a betrayal and a “huge win to Trump,” per the Breitbart account.
Ruffalo also went after Newsom earlier this month over the governor’s veto of a state artificial intelligence safety bill. In an op-ed for TIME magazine titled “Governor Newsom’s Veto on the AI Bill Was a Mistake,” the actor called the veto “a mistake” and urged the public to “follow the money” when evaluating Newsom’s decisions.
“AI is now a real-life technology, and love it or hate it, most everyone agrees it will make a massive impact on all of our real lives,” Ruffalo wrote in the piece.
The recurring theme in Ruffalo’s broadsides is a suspicion that the governor’s policy choices are shaped by donor and industry interests rather than the priorities of working Californians. Whether the subject is a corporate merger, AI regulation, or a tax limitation measure, the actor’s message has been consistent: Newsom, in his telling, is not on the side of labor.
The broader tax fight
Prop 42 sits at the center of a wider national conversation about wealth taxation. Supporters of such taxes argue that billionaires accumulate wealth at a rate that outpaces the rest of the economy and that a modest levy on extreme fortunes could fund public services without meaningfully affecting the wealthy. Opponents — including Newsom — contend that wealth taxes are difficult to administer, prompt capital flight, and can end up hitting assets that middle-class families rely on, such as retirement funds and home equity.
California’s ballot measure would go further than simply rejecting a single tax proposal. By writing a prohibition into the state constitution, it would remove the option from future legislatures and governors entirely, a feature that critics say locks in policy for generations. That structural change is what Ruffalo appeared to be referencing when he said the bill would make it “impossible to tax the wealthy at all.”
Newsom’s stated coalition in favor of the measure — firefighters, blue-collar unions, veterans, seniors, and small businesses — reflects an effort by supporters to frame the issue not as a gift to billionaires but as protection for people living on fixed incomes. The governor’s language in his statement leaned heavily on that idea, describing retirement and life savings as the assets most at risk from new state taxes.
Ruffalo’s counterargument effectively asks voters to look past that framing. By invoking the Paramount merger and the AI veto alongside Prop 42, he is presenting them as a single pattern rather than isolated decisions, an argument aimed at Democratic voters who might otherwise give the governor the benefit of the doubt.
A celebrity voice in a policy fight
Ruffalo is among the more politically active figures in Hollywood, and his platform gives him a reach that extends well beyond the typical activist. His interventions have not been limited to California politics; he has been a frequent critic of Trump and has weighed in on environmental and economic policy in the past.
Whether his latest post moves any votes is an open question. Celebrity endorsements and attacks tend to generate headlines and social media engagement, but their measurable effect on ballot outcomes is often modest. Still, in a state where Newsom is widely seen as a potential future presidential candidate, criticism from a prominent voice on the left carries a particular sting — it fuels the argument that the governor’s centrist instincts alienate parts of his own party’s base.
For now, the fight over Prop 42 will play out through the state’s ballot process, with Newsom making the case that the measure protects savings and Ruffalo and other critics arguing that it protects fortunes. The two sides are, in effect, describing the same policy in opposite terms: one as a shield for retirees, the other as a lock on wealth.
The Breitbart report noted that Ruffalo has attacked Newsom repeatedly this year, including over the AI bill veto and the merger settlement. Each dispute has followed a similar script — a Newsom decision, a Ruffalo post, and a renewed argument about whose interests the governor is really serving.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2026/10/14/marvel-star-mark-ruffalo-erupts-on-newsom-for-putting-billionaires-over-working-class-once-again/