Why Vote NO on Prop 40
Why Prop 40's "One-Time" Billionaires Tax Would Cost California More Than It Collects
Prop 40 is being sold to voters as an easy fix: tax California's billionaires once and use the money to cover the state's budget gaps. On NBC Bay Area's 11 p.m. news this week, Silicon Valley GOP Chairman Dave Johnson explained why that promise doesn't hold up.
"If you kill the engine, which, in other words, those billionaires are typically entrepreneurs or they have, you know, established companies," Johnson said. "If you tax them, even a one-time tax, they could just move to another state and take their employees with them."
That's the part Prop 40's backers leave out. California's wealthiest residents don't just write checks. They found and run the companies that employ hundreds of thousands of Californians and pay taxes here year after year. A one-time grab gives them one more reason to take their businesses, their jobs and their future tax payments somewhere else. Then the revenue the state was counting on goes with them.
Johnson also pushed back on Sacramento's habit of blaming everyone but itself for its budget troubles. "When the federal government says, 'Well, we're going to cut off your revenue stream,' the state cries wolf and says, 'It's all his fault. It's all his fault,'" he said. "Never, never admitting that they are the reason that the federal government had to do that."
Even Prop 40's supporters admit that Gov. Gavin Newsom isn't on board. California doesn't need a tax that chases away job creators. It needs leaders who take responsibility for how they spend the money they already have.
Vote NO on Prop 40. Watch the clip, share it, and make sure your friends and neighbors know what's really on the ballot.
With election day November 3rd a little over 2 weeks out, this is crunch time, so be sure to vote and you can review the SVGOP Voter Guide here.