In one of the most expensive ballot fights in California history, opponents heavily outspent supporters of a billionaire tax to mostly fund healthcare. On Wednesday, the wealth tax appeared headed for defeat though results on Proposition 40 were too close to call.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/54152859

Proposition 40, which would impose a one-time 5% tax on California billionaires to help fund healthcare, appeared headed for defeat, though votes were still being counted.

Opponents raised hundreds of millions of dollars to fight the measure, far outspending supporters, who argued the tax could help offset federal healthcare cuts.

The campaign also faced opposition from Gov. Gavin Newsom, teachers, business groups and others, while voters weighed concerns about taxing assets and the possibility that billionaires could leave California.

  • Archr@lemmy.world
    1·
    10 hours ago

    I would like to believe that but we also approved prop 42 which prevents taxes on personal assets. So we would need to repeal that before being able to attempt this again.

    The voting guides that I saw people posting on nextdoor (since I live in a conservative part of Cali) described prop 40 as “a tax on ‘billionaires’ and a tax on ‘everyone’”. Literally I saw people saying that they would believe anything that a billionaire tells them over a politician.

    This is prop 22 (iirc it was 22) all over again. Back when Uber and lyft convinced Californians to exempt them from calling their drivers employees.