Bernie Sanders is back in California — campaigning for Proposition 40, the billionaire tax.
The Vermont senator rallied hundreds of supporters in San Francisco Saturday, calling Prop 40 the most important ballot initiative in the country. Congressman Ro Khanna and insurance commissioner candidate Jane Kim joined him.
Prop 40 would impose a one-time 5 percent tax on the wealth of Californians with more than $1 billion in assets, primarily for health care, but could also reduce future income-tax revenue if billionaires leave California.
And this has created a major Democratic Party split.
Sanders and Khanna are pushing hard for the tax. But Governor Gavin Newsom and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra oppose it, warning it could drive wealthy residents — and their tax dollars — out of California.
Sanders says those threats are overblown and argues California should lead the country in taxing extreme wealth.
So one month before Election Day, California Democrats aren’t fighting Republicans over Prop 40.
They’re fighting each other.
According to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the “wealth tax,” supposedly affecting only billionaires but could in fact a threat to every California taxpayer and homeowner.
Proposition 40 imposes a “one-time tax” of 5% of “covered assets” valued above $1 billion. However, the measure includes language that allows the Legislature to rewrite the law later, potentially changing the thresholds, the assets that are covered, the percentage to be taken, and the number of times the tax would be levied.
This is an entirely new type of tax, and we don’t know where it will lead. Will all Californians have to submit forms to the Franchise Tax Board declaring their assets every year? How much will ordinary Californians have to pay for “wealth tax preparation” to comply with this law?
Here’s the HJTA Voting Guide.
AI helped compile this story.
