California Republican Candidate Claims $250 Billion in Taxpayer Fraud

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton said Saturday that his campaign-aligned watchdog group has identified “hundreds of millions of dollars” in taxpayer fraud in the state and estimated “a total of $250 billion of fraud in California.”

“We’re just getting started in California,” Hilton stated.

Hilton said federal and state-level scrutiny has accelerated recently, noting his campaign launched “Cal DOGE, the California Department of Government Efficiency,” to root out fraud.

“We published our first fraud report,” Hilton said. “We found this just in a matter of days, going through the budget: $370 million stolen from the cannabis tax—supposedly for substance abuse prevention—is being siphoned off to Democrat activist causes like voter registration and pushing narratives that help them politically.”

“A slush fund for Democrat politics,” Hilton added.

Hilton said his group has “referred that for prosecution” and vowed, “We’re going to uncover all of it.”

When asked how he would stop fraud if elected, Hilton stated he is running “as a team” with proposed running mates for state comptroller and attorney general. The comptroller, he explained, “has the power to audit every single organization receiving state money, then turn off the money flow where there’s fraud and corruption.”

“He’s going to prosecute the fraud, and we’re going to get the money back,” Hilton added.

“The big point about all of this is that when we find and stop the fraud, that’s how we reduce spending, which is how we cut taxes,” he said. “That’s what I’m going to do as governor of California.”

By Sandy Fitzgerald | Saturday, 14 February 2026 06:53 PM EST