LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 As national Democrats search for a unifying theme ahead of the fall\u2019s midterm elections, a California proposal to levy a hefty tax on billionaires is turning some of the party\u2019s leading figures into adversaries just when Democrats can least afford division from within.<\/p>\n
Bernie Sanders will be in Los Angeles campaigning Wednesday for the tax proposal that has the Silicon Valley<\/a> in an uproar, with tech titans are threatening to leave the state. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a> is among its outspoken opponents, warning that it could leave government finances in crisis and put the state at a competitive disadvantage nationally.<\/p>\n Sanders is planning a late afternoon rally near downtown, and in the past he has turned out overflow crowds in the heavily Democratic city. The Vermont senator<\/a>, a democratic socialist, is popular in California \u2014 he won the 2020<\/a> Democratic presidential primary in the state in a runaway. He\u2019s been railing for decades against what he characterizes as wealthy elites and the growing gap between rich and poor.<\/p>\n A large health care union<\/a> is attempting to place a proposal before voters in November that would impose a one-time 5% tax on the assets of billionaires \u2014 including stocks, art, businesses, collectibles and intellectual property \u2014 to backfill federal funding cuts to health services<\/a> for lower-income people that were signed by President Donald Trump last year.<\/p>\n Sanders wrote on the social platform X that he strongly supports the tax \u201cat a time of unprecedented and growing wealth and income inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur nation will not thrive when so few own so much,\u201d Sanders wrote.<\/p>\n Debate on the proposal is unfolding at a time when voters in both parties express unease with economic conditions<\/a> and what the future will bring<\/a> in a politically divided nation. Distrust of government \u2014 and its ability to get things done<\/a> \u2014 is widespread.<\/p>\n The proposal has created a rift between Newsom and prominent members of his party\u2019s progressive wing, including Sanders<\/a>, who has said the tax should be a template for other states.<\/p>\n \u201cThe issues that are really going to be motivating Democrats this year, affordability and the cost of health care and cuts to schools, none of these would be fixed by this proposal. If fact, they would be made worse,\u201d said Brian Brokaw, a longtime Newsom adviser who is leading a political committee opposing the tax. <\/p>\n Midterm elections typically punish the party in control of the White House, and Democrats are hoping to gain enough U.S. House seats to overturn the chamber\u2019s slim Republican majority. In California, rejiggered House districts approved by voters last year are expected to help the party pick up as many as five additional seats, which would leave Republicans in control of just a handful of districts. <\/p>\n