Tipsheet

Bessent Takes Aim at Newsom's 100 Percent Tax Proposal. Here's What He Said.

Cameron Arcand
Cameron Arcand  |  May 28, 2026 4:15 PM

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) proposal to 100 percent tax all funds received by California from the Justice Department’s “anti-weaponization fund.”

“There's no cure for stupid,” Bessent told a Wall Street Journal reporter while leading the White House press briefing on Thursday afternoon.

Newsom’s office quickly responded, as a spokesperson told Townhall that “Slow Scott would know.”

The Democrat said this week that “anyone from California who receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100 percent of those proceeds.”

“And that’s an action the state of California can take. It’s an action we look forward to taking,” he said. Similar proposals are being floated in New York and Connecticut.

"I just introduced the Anti-Insurrectionist Act in NY. It's simple: If you're a New Yorker who takes from Trump's illegal January 6th slush fund, NY will tax 100% of it," Assemblymember Alex Bores (D-NY) posted on Tuesday.

The Justice Department announced an over-$1.776 billion fund on May 18 in the aftermath of a settlement in a lawsuit between the president and the Internal Revenue Service.

“The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement at the time. 

“As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress,” Blanche added.

Lawsuits have now been filed against the fund, which the Trump administration says will help people who have been victims of political targeting by the federal government.

Virginia Kase Solomón, President and CEO of the left-wing group Common Cause, said in a May 22 statement opposing the fund that “Trump wants to take your hard-earned tax dollars and hand it over to criminals, cronies, and insurrectionists who assaulted police officers in his name.”

“It’s unconscionable, and more importantly, it’s illegal. We’re suing to protect hardworking Americans and ensure public money goes towards making our lives more affordable, not paying out the president’s political allies,” Solomón continued.

The White House says that the fund is for anyone, regardless of their political affiliation.

“Any American—Democrat, Republican, Independent or apolitical—can file claims with the Anti-Weaponization Fund, which are then reviewed by a committee of five,” the White House’s rapid response account posted last week.