Gavin Newsom backs measure to kill the billionaire tax and ban future wealth taxes
2 days ago by technocrit to c/politics
Not only has Gov. Gavin Newsom vocally opposed the proposed California billionaire tax, but he also wants to prevent the state from ever passing a wealth tax in the future.
On Friday he endorsed Proposition 42, a ballot measure that would cancel out Proposition 40, the proposed billionaire tax. Prop. 42 would prohibit retroactive taxes like the one-time 5% tax on assets that would apply to any billionaire who lived in California on Jan. 1, 2026 if Prop. 40 passes.
But Prop. 42, funded and placed on the ballot by billionaire and Google co-founder Sergey Brin to defeat the billionaire tax, also would go further, by banning any new taxes on personal property.
That includes pensions and 401K accounts before retirees start drawing retirement income from them. It also includes other investments, financial assets, business holdings, art collections and all other forms of personal wealth that would be affected by the billionaire tax or any future wealth tax.
Newsom’s decision to support Prop. 42 runs counter to his own Democratic Party and some labor unions. It also aligns him with some of the wealthy tech donors with whom he’s maintained longstanding relationships dating back to his days as mayor of San Francisco.
Voting strategically for the least bad candidate presented by the two major parties is the only thing that has been shown to work. It's how we have the DSA candidates in government that we actually have. None of them have ever won by running as a third party. Not a single one.
Which is why it's so important to turn out during the primaries. Make sure Gavin isn't the candidate by voting for candidates you actually like during the primaries. If he wins the nomination, and I sure hope he doesn't, I'd still vote for him over JD Vance or whatever sick fascist wins the GOP nomination. That's how it works.
Voting strategically for the least bad candidate presented by the two major parties is the only thing that has been shown to work
It hasn't worked. It gave us Clinton, the OG Epsteincrat. Then it gave us a string of loser shitlibs who caved to fascism at the first shove. And a long string of corporate cutouts - from Biden to Lieberman to Manchin to Fetterman - who only knew how to obstruct from within the Democratic party.
This strategy is why America is the only country in the industrial world without a public health care policy. It's why we have exploding student debts and a housing crisis. Neoliberalism is a curse.
What is your strategy and can you point to it having worked recently? Electing Obama was preferable to electing McCain, was it not? Electing Clinton was preferable to reelecting Bush Sr., was it not? Electing Hillary would have been preferable to Trump. Y/N? Electing Biden was preferable to reelecting Trump. Y/N? Electing Harris would have been preferable to Trump. Y/N?
This isn't complicated. The system is dead simple, and certain people keep making the wrong choices. We are a democracy. We have the government we have not because choices are being forced on us, but because our citizens keep making shitty choices. Can we not? Please?
The system is incredibly complicated. You've just been too absent to notice, and this is not a good system... Its terrible.
And wow... What a choice we have! Corpo pigs or corpo pigs with sharper teeth. Elections have some effect but that study from Princeton years ago LITERALLY showed that elections are mainly useless. https://www.bbc.com/...
Organizing, community structuring, mutual aid, decentralizing, educating are all completely necessary alongside it. Honestly, often in replacement of the complete failure our system is.
And I know I'm about to be accused of being a anti-voting shill who has been recruited right before midterms. I'm not, I do vote (very intentionally and informed) every election, but I think we need to do SOOO much more.
Show me the better alternative to voting strategically. I never claimed the US system is great and perfect and directly produces wonderful results. Nobody over age 12 believes that bullshit, especially not lately.
In our deeply, deeply flawed system, consistently voting strategically is one of the most effective things we can do to effect change for good. Not perfect, but good. I urge all my fellow citizens to master the art of holding their noses and voting for the candidate more likely to improve their lives, or less likely to fuck them over. The alternative is accelerationism towards collapse, and the people on the left who say they want that are all woefully unprepared for the consequences. (The accelerationists on the right are also unprepared, but at least they have a lot of guns.)
As for doing more: I agree. AFTER we charitably elect the lesser evil, we should be calling their offices every day. We should be demonstrating. We should be engaging in civil disobedience. Our jobs do not end on election day, but we should never, ever allow the GOP to seize power electorally when it's so easy to keep them out. That is tying both hands behind our backs and making sure the people in power not only disregard us, but despise us.
You will never take apart the master's house with the master's tools. But that doesn't mean it's not worth doing as well, in addition to our other defenses and offenses.
We live in a democracy. What masters are you referring to? You never answered my very, very simple question. Every time I have this discussion with you guys, I'm disappointed further. You have no plan, but you want to criticize mine.
We don't live In a fucking democracy!! You're chowing down the propaganda they're feeding you. What has ever given you an idea that we live in a democracy? Before this oligarchy, it was a plutocracy at best. Companies run EVERYTHING, and they have spent the last 80 years undoing every drop of the New Deal (which is still capitalism), because even that is too progressive for them.
You can't vote in change to an empire that overthrows foreign governments, oppresses its own populous, and destroys the environment. And the worst part, citizens united is just the cherry on top. It made things way worse, but we wouldn't magically live in a utopic democracy if citizens united was overturned tomorrow.
We don’t live In a fucking democracy!!
Sure, bud.
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With moves like that, we all KNOW the Dems are going to hold all of the rich pedophilic traitors responsible for their illegal actions FOR SURE!
I mean, he won't tax them, but he will DEFINITELY arrest them, and have them convicted and imprisoned FOR SURE
With all of the illegal actions and stealing of our cash, the DEMS will DEFINITELY hold the tech bros responsible for their pedophilic and traitorous actions! Nevermind that the dem leadership is ALSO PAID BY THIEL. They will hold musk and co responsible and imprison them FOR SURE
Just keep voting for Dems and you will be able to beat those random two (or 6) that flip at key votes. If you vote a little harder for Democrats, they will be able to defeat the parliamentarian when they have the votes.
Nevermind that the Democrats have NEVER restored any benefits or programs that Republicans have cut (they had the votes in '96 and didn't, Newsome could have done universal healthcare and he didn't)
ITS TIME FOR SOMETHING ELSE. NO MORE FASCISM
save