The proposal has drawn more than $300 million in campaign contributions, nearly all against it. Ballot measures are not subject to caps on campaign donations.<\/p>\n
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a hero among the nation\u2019s progressive voters, stumped in Southern California on Monday for a wealth tax on the California ballot in November that has drawn hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign spending.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you are showing people from coast to coast and all over is that, yes, we can take on the greed of the oligarchs,\u201d said Sanders (I-Vt.), who called Proposition 40 the most important ballot measure in the country. \u201cYes, we can create an economy and a government that works for all of us, not just the 1 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanders name-checked billionaire tech founders including Elon Musk of SpaceX, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Google co-founder Sergey Brin, whose mentions were repeatedly met with boos from the crowd gathered at the Novo in downtown Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
Labor leaders, speaking earlier on Monday at a union training facility in La Palma, argued that although the billionaires tax is billed as a one-time tax on the assets of the state\u2019s wealthiest residents, it includes a loophole that would allow state lawmakers to tax the savings and retirement accounts and home equity of all Californians. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the trades, we know you always read the blueprints and you always read the fine print,\u201d said Xochitl Medrano, the political director for the district council of the Ironworkers of the State of California and Vicinity. Medrano was surrounded by union workers chanting, \u201cNo on 40!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur workers are not billionaires; they are working people. After 20, 30, or even 40 years of breaking their backs on the job sites, our members have the opportunity to have a decent pension, some retirement savings, and equity in a home that they\u2019ve been working to pay off,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s not wealth handed to them. That\u2019s sweat equity. … We won\u2019t stand by and let a tax that\u2019s supposed to target billionaires turn into a trap door for working families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Proposition 40 is among the most contentious issues on the Nov. 3 ballot. The measure was crafted by a healthcare union to offset $100 billion in impending federal healthcare funding cuts approved by congressional Republicans and signed by President Trump last year. Millions of Californians could lose their healthcare coverage because of those cuts.<\/p>\n
There are two opposing measures on the November ballot, Propositions 41 and 42, that would nullify the billionaires tax if either receives more votes.<\/p>\n
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