01/11/2026
Before the River: A Thoughtful Response to California’s Proposed Billionaire Tax
California is considering a bold proposal: a one-time 5% wealth tax on residents with more than $1 billion in assets. The intention is to raise significant funding for schools, mental health services, housing, healthcare, and other essential programs that support Californians who are struggling.
At its heart, this proposal reflects something deeply human — a desire to care for one another.
And yet, as we discuss how to fund solutions, I find myself asking a deeper question:
Why are so many people ending up in crisis in the first place?
We are generous with our lifejackets.
When people struggle with mental health, we fund crisis care. When families lose housing, we respond with emergency support. When students fall behind, we try to patch the gaps.
And these efforts matter. They save lives. They ease suffering.
But I can’t help but mention —
Too many people ending up in the river in the first place!
What if we spent more energy upstream? What if we invested not just in rescue,
but in prevention?
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We’re Very Good at Responding to Crisis, But Not at Preventing It
Much of California’s current spending is designed to react:
• Mental health care after breakdown
• Housing assistance after displacement
• Academic intervention after failure
• Emergency services after trauma
This is compassionate — and necessary.
But it’s also expensive, exhausting, and emotionally heavy.
It treats the symptom, not the source.
It’s like standing downstream with a pile of lifejackets while people keep falling in.
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What If We Looked Upstream?
If the proposed billionaire tax moves forward, it will generate billions of dollars for California. The question isn’t only how much money we raise — it’s how wisely we use it.
What if some of that funding were intentionally directed toward building systems of prevention?
Toward helping people regulate emotions, strengthen connection, and develop resilience before crisis takes hold.
What if the money went toward programs that support:
• Emotional regulation
• Nervous system education
• Social connection
• Parental support
• Community belonging
• Mental health literacy
• Teacher emotional training
• Early childhood stability
These aren’t luxuries.
They are the roots of resilience.
When people feel safe, seen, and supported early in life:
• Addiction decreases
• Violence drops
• Academic success rises
• Healthcare costs fall
• Communities strengthen
Prevention doesn’t just save money. It saves futures.
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From Reaction to Renewal
What if California used this moment not only to raise funds, but to reshape the system itself?
What if we moved from a model that wastefully reacts to crisis to one that cultivates thriving?
A system that encourages:
• Lives to flourish
• Hearts to connect
• Minds to be clear
When people feel grounded, supported, and emotionally equipped, fewer end up in the river at all.
And perhaps — just perhaps — if the wealthiest among us saw their contributions helping to build something wiser and more preventative, some might feel inspired to give even more.
Not out of obligation. But out of compassion.
Not as a loss. But as a meaningful investment in the future of our shared home.
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The Cost of Waiting
When we wait until people are drowning:
• The solutions are more expensive
• The suffering is deeper
• The outcomes are harder to change
• The healing takes longer
We spend billions on crisis care
because we invested too little in emotional education.
We fund emergency systems
because we underfund human connection.
If new tax revenue simply flows into the same reactive structures, we risk, or even guarantee, repeating a cycle that hasn’t delivered the lasting stability Californians deserve.
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This Isn’t About Blame. It’s About Vision.
Most people want to help. We care about one another.
The real question isn’t whether we should support people — it’s how early, how wisely, and how deeply we invest in human well-being.
Do we want to keep reacting to pain?
Or do we want to prevent it?
A wealth tax can be a tool — but only if it funds transformation, not just maintenance.
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Lifejackets Matter — But So Does the Bridge
We should always help people in the water.
Compassion demands it. But wisdom asks us to build the bridge.
To calm the current.
To teach people how to swim.
To reduce the reasons people jump in at all.
If California is going to ask its wealthiest residents to contribute more, let’s ensure that those resources are used not only to respond to crisis — but to prevent it for generations to come.
Because when fewer people fall,
fewer lives need rescued.
Warmly,
Deniece Smith
Founder of Our Mettaverse
