Tech billionaires have been dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the fight against a wealth tax in California. They’ve raised more than $340m, and the campaign they’re funding is spending more than $1m a day to defeat the measure, according to state financial disclosures. With the election less than a month away, those funds are being spent at a stepped-up pace.
During the first 19 days of September, according to the most recent campaign filings, the opposition campaign plowed through at least $21.2m to fight the billionaire tax – surpassing $1m per day. Voters are being inundated with robotexts, mailers and advertisements that warn a tax on billionaires would “expose all Californians to higher taxes”, as one ad reads. Californians will vote on the ballot measure, Proposition 40, in early November.
If passed, it would require a one-time 5% tax on the state’s billionaires, with the proceeds mostly funding healthcare programs, along with some education and food assistance. The measure has divided Democrats in the state, with some giving enthusiastic support and others rejecting the proposal because it’s just a one-time levy and the bulk of it would only fund certain healthcare programs. The state’s major unions and progressive politicians like the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and California congressman Ro Khanna back Prop 40.
But both the Democratic and Republican candidates for governor, as well as organizations like Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, a lobbying branch of the healthcare group, oppose it. Among its fiercest critics, however, are the tech billionaires it would most directly apply to. The donors to the no campaign are a who’s who of Silicon Valley, including the Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison, crypto magnate Chris Larsen and several prominent venture capitalists.
The biggest donor, by far, is the Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who has contributed at least $102m to fight the tax, according to campaign finance filings. The runner-up is Schmidt, who has donated more than $42m. For comparison, the yes on 40 campaign has raised a total that’s just shy of $33m, mostly from the healthcare union sponsoring the measure.
Proponents and opponents alike are casting the billionaire tax as a potential first step toward wealth taxes in more states. While those against the measure see it as populist contagion, those in favor connect it to the top issue of the midterms – affordability. And with California having more billionaires than any other state, Prop 40 is seen as setting the stage for more referendums on wealth inequality throughout the country.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
