The Wiltern in Koreatown has seen its share of big acts — Lady Gaga played there last month — and next week it will host a very different kind of headliner: Sen. Bernie Sanders.
On Feb. 18, Sanders will kick off a campaign spearheaded by a California health care workers union, who are seeking to place a tax on California’s billionaires on the November ballot. The event will also include prominent musical acts, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The proposed 5% tax would primarily target about 200 of the state’s wealthiest residents, with most of the revenue going to health care programs like Medi-Cal and to help keep hospitals and emergency rooms open. Supporters, including the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), need nearly 875,000 voter signatures by June 24 to qualify the measure, reports LAist.
When reached for comment, Sanders’ campaign referred to a statement the senator posted on X in December.
“At a time of unprecedented and growing wealth and income inequality, I strongly support the grassroots effort in California to impose a 5% wealth tax on 200 billionaires worth $2 trillion,” he wrote. “This initiative would provide the necessary funding to prevent over 3 million working class Californians from losing the health care they currently have as a result of Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful bill.”
Critics of the tax, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and several Democratic candidates running to replace Sanders, say it could drive tech entrepreneurs out of California and force middle-class families to pay more taxes.
Supporters of the tax initiative include Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) and billionaire gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer. They argue the tax would help reduce income inequality and protect access to healthcare.
This isn’t the first time the Vermont senator will take the stage at the Wiltern.
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Sanders drew a packed house to the Koreatown theater, speaking to supporters about issues like tuition, health care and income inequality. At that event, supporters lined up outside, and police even made a few arrests for indecent exposure after demonstrators wearing “Feel the Bern” pasties drew cheers from the crowd as they went partially topless, according to reporting from the LA Times.