"A butter knife against a nuclear arsenal:" Tech billionaires vastly outspend wealth tax supporters
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Set us as preferred More than $351 million in political donations has been poured into a high-stakes contest about a proposed wealth tax on the November ballot, making it one of the most costly campaigns in California history.About 90% of the money is being spent to defeat a statewide initiative to impose a new tax on the assets of billionaires, a multifaceted opposition effort bankrolled primarily by ultra-rich Californians being targeted by a measure that supporters call an economic reckoning.
The billionaire tax, Proposition 40, would levy a one-time, 5% tax on many assets of California billionaires who lived in the state as of Jan.1.Millions of dollars continue to flow into the campaigns of three intertwined ballot initiatives at the center of the debate: Proposition 40, and Propositions 41 and Proposition 42, which would neuter the Proposition 40 through strategic, esoteric tax law changes.
“The pro-40 campaign picked a fight and then came to that fight with a butter knife against a nuclear arsenal,” said GOP strategist Rob Stutzman, who is not involved in any of the wealth-tax-related ballot measures.“Because they’re so well funded, in today’s multifaceted media world, they are able to show up everywhere from network TV to inside video games.
That is a very, very large advantage few campaigns ever get to have.”But, Stutzman warned, money does not guarantee a win.In the most expensive ballot measure fights in California history, $463 million was spent on two gambling proposals 2022.
The initiatives pitted some of California’s most successful Native American tribes with gaming interests against gambling corporations, including online sports gaming companies DraftKings and FanDuel.Both side’s measure failed.
The tax measure was crafted by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers We...