LOS ANGELES (AP) — A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears will lead to an exodus of wealth.
A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other state — a few hundred, by some estimates. Nearly half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly $350 billion budget, comes from the top 1% of earners.
A large health care union is attempting to place a proposal before voters in November that would impose a one-time 5% tax on the assets of billionaires — including stocks, art, businesses, collectibles and intellectual property — to backfill federal funding cuts to health services for lower-income people that were signed by President Donald Trump last year.
In a state with a vast gap between rich and poor, the plan has resulted in a tangle of competing interests at a time when both Democrats and Republicans are struggling to respond to economic anxiety driven by rising costs ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
If Newsom doesn’t take a more progressive stance I won’t vote for him. I’m through voting for liberals that lie to your face then do the bidding of the billionaire class behind closed doors. That’s exactly why nobody trusts the Democrat party anymore. I’m a lifelong Dem voter, but enough is enough. Never again. If you’re pro-Israel or pro-billionaire, count me out.
there are still too many that do support the democrats and they’re an overwhelming majority.
He’s already lost my vote in the primaries. Not that I’m in a state that ever mattered.
But once it’s the general election I’ll still vote blue unless there is a viable alternative which would be awesome but unlikely.
I highly doubt the right is going to put forward anything less than a far right candidate. A centrist is better than a these racist anti science regressives.