On this edition of Your Call, we're having a wide ranging discussion about taxes.
Thirty tax measures are on the ballot in 16 states, but the one drawing the most attention is California's Proposition 40. If it passes, it will be the world’s first billionaire tax.
Prop 40 would impose a one-time, five percent tax on the net worth of California’s 200 or so billionaires, raising approximately $100 billion. Ninety percent of the money would go to health care to help offset the Republican Party’s megabill, which cuts $100 billion in Medicaid funding over the next five years. Up to 3.4 million Californians could lose their health insurance. The other 10 percent would be put in a special fund for education and food assistance, which Republicans have also cut.
The ultra wealthy are outspending Prop 40 supporters by five to one. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has put more than $100 million into a committee fighting the tax. Sergey Brin is worth $237 billion, according to Forbes. He didn't pay any California income tax on his Google wealth in 2019, 2020 and 2023, according to the New York Times.
Working families pay four times more in taxes than billionaires, according to Americans for Tax Fairness. The corporate tax rate was 52 percent in 1952. Today, it's 21 percent.
How did we get here and what would an equitable tax system look like?
Guests:
Darien Shanske, professor of law at the UC Davis School of Law who helped write California’s Billionaire Tax Act
Brian Galle, professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law who helped write California’s Billionaire Tax Act, and author of How to Tax the Ultrarich
Resources:
The New York Times: How California’s Ultrarich Are Trying to Stop the World’s First Billionaire Tax
The Guardian: The ultra-rich are spending one million dollars a day fighting California’s proposed billionaire tax
The Conversation: US inequality is getting worse in ways you might not expect
MarketWatch: It’s not just California’s billionaire tax. Wealth is on the ballot in the midterm elections.
