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California’s billionaire tax is splintering state Democrats, with the latest sign of division coming from deep-blue San Francisco, where the local Democratic Party voted Wednesday not to endorse the ballot measure.
San Francisco’s Democratic leaders delivered a stunning rebuke of Proposition 40, a ballot measure that would impose a one-time 5% tax on roughly 200 California billionaires.
City leaders even acknowledged and agreed with arguments that Prop 40 would devastate the state’s economy and cause wealthy job creators to flee California.
Prop 40 “is not a workable policy to do locally or on a state level, and it really has the potential to harm our economy,” San Francisco Democratic Party committee member Eric Kingsbury said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Kingsbury added that Prop 40 would disproportionately hurt the Bay Area, home to Silicon Valley. The tech sector has some of the world’s richest people and an artificial intelligence boom that has created new billionaires.
“It very likely will lead to people choosing to not create businesses that they think are going to be very successful in California, just so they are not subject to a future tax,” Kingsbury said. He acknowledged the possibility of the state billionaire tax being more permanent.
Instead, the city’s Democratic Party supported a resolution backing a national wealth tax, while it backed away from Prop 40 on a 17-4 margin.
The city party’s stance falls in line with other Democratic figures, like gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Newsom opposes Prop 40 but has called for a national-level wealth tax.
But many labor groups and the statewide California Democratic Party officially endorsed Prop 40, at odds with Newsom and now San Francisco Democratic leaders. Prop 40 supporters label support for a national tax but not a state one as political hypocrisy.
Some were furious at the city Dems for not supporting the billionaire tax. Activists in the audience booed and yelled “shame on you,” Politico reported, with progressive members of the committee walking out in protest.
“The San Francisco Democratic Party today hardly resembles the party that I’ve known and valued over the years,” said labor leader Mike Casey. “Wake up! Look around the country. Now is not the time to be sucking up to billionaires.”
Local party leaders don’t usually break from the statewide party on ballot measure endorsements, but San Francisco’s party took a step to allow its on vote on the tax.
The campaigns for and both Prop 40 are currently heating up. The anti-Prop 40 campaign released its first wave of ads, highlighting the opposition from both Newsom and Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton.
The issue has generated nationwide attention over how the Democratic Party nationwide should treat billionaires. Quite a few wealthy figures, like Google co-founder Sergey Brin, have also jumped into the debate by spending vast amounts of money to oppose Prop 40.
“San Francisco Democrats care deeply about addressing inequality and making California more affordable, but Proposition 40 is the wrong approach,” said San Francisco Democratic Party Chair Nancy Tung in a statement.
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