Commentary: What gets me so angry about California's proposed billionaire tax

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Set us as preferred The more I think about Proposition 40, the billionaire tax that will go before California voters in November, the angrier I get.I’m angry at President Trump.His cruel slashing of Medicaid threatens the health of millions of Californians, may lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of medical jobs and is the stated reason behind Proposition 40, which would levy a one-time 5% tax on billionaires.

Trump invoked government deficits, but this was really his latest attack against people he sees as losers and thus expendable — people of color, the undocumented and especially the poor.“Evil” isn’t mean enough a word to describe this.I’m upset at what Proposition 40 proposes to do.

It’s a temporary stopgap that doesn’t reverse Trump’s Medicaid cuts and won’t solve the fundamental problems facing healthcare, or all the other things that make life in California so expensive.Plus, since when has a tax happened just once? Politics The California Democratic Party backed Prop.

40, a 5% billionaire tax for healthcare, despite heavy pushback from Newsom and labor leaders.Proposition 30 was supposed to be a temporary tax increase for Californians who earn more than $250,000 a year in the name of propping up K-12 schools and community colleges.Passed in 2012, it was supposed to expire in 2019.

Instead, voters extended it to 2030 — and our public schools are in more dire need than ever.If Proposition 40 succeeds, you know every advocacy group from Yreka to San Ysidro will propose one-time taxes in the name of rescuing something or other.

But relying on new taxes, or strengthening old ones, only shows that people are out of ideas — a dangerous scenario for democracy.I’m enraged at billionaires.In the past, California’s captains of industry — your Dohenys, Gettys, Huntingtons and so many more — at least pretended to care about the rest of society by funding charities, the art...