California’s proposed billionaire tax may be qualified to appear on the ballot this November, but should it get placed, it will have competition with another initiative that if passed would render the tax moot.
A measure to “require audits of programs funded by new state special taxes” qualified for the ballot, the California Secretary of State announced late Tuesday, with more than 962,000 signatures and will be certified June 25th unless withdrawn.
It’s the first to qualify of the multiple ballot proposals backed by Building A Better California, a group where Google co-founder Sergey Brin and other Bay Area tycoons have poured tens of millions of dollars into to fight the billionaire tax.
The Post reached out to the group for comment on its qualification.
The controversial billionaire tax is championed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) and would levy a one-time 5% tax on the state’s ultra-rich whose assets exceed $1 billion. The goal, supporters say, is to make up for federal healthcare cuts.
But such a tax has incensed wealthy Californians and others like Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who argue it would hurt the state’s economy in the long run after billionaires flee the state.
The auditing proposal, among others, are attempts by Brin and opponents to essentially “spoil” or undermine the billionaire tax should it pass. The newly qualified measure would increase audits of new taxpayer-funded programs and includes a provision that would essentially invalidate or bring legal scrutiny to the proposed billionaire tax.
“It’s a clever strategy if you’ve got lots of money,” Shaun Bowler, a political science professor at UC Riverside, told Governing.
Still everything can be changed by June 25. Both the tax proposal and competing initiatives could still be withdrawn before June 25 if Newsom succeeds in negotiating a compromise.
So far, there hasn’t been much progress, at least publicly. Supporters of the billionaire tax recently offered Newsom the option of a 2% tax enacted through legislation instead, but the governor swiftly declined.
“The governor supports making the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share, but this poorly designed state-only measure will defund teachers, schools, clinics, and public safety,” his office said.
If the billionaire tax proposal reaches voters, analysts expect an expensive election fight.
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