How Is California Eating The Rich Today? Your Billionaire Tax Proposition Explainerer!

Can’t spell ‘prop’ without ‘propaganda!’ Or something like that.

Photo by Elliott Stallion on Unsplash

I’m not sure if you’ve heard about this, but the United States has some midterm elections coming up (ha! ha! Journalism humor!) and the Golden State is California-ing out hard.

This means that a lot of horrible special interests have been busily putting their shittiest little propositions on the ballots, and then the propaganda and political ads have been flying around, and then all the ratfucking means that of course no one has any idea who is what and is all addlepated by the time the midterms roll around, so I am here to clarify what some of these propositions on the California ballots are all about!

We have (sigh) 14 statewide propositions on the ballot this cycle, but I am going to concern myself with just three here: Props 40, 41, and 42. (Okay, I ended up writing about a BONUS PROPOSITION, but that’s only because I got mad.)

So before I get going, I’ll give you a short version: Prop 40 is a billionaire tax backed by unions. Props 41 and 42 are anti-tax measures backed by billionaires!

You’re welcome!

Prop 40

I’ll start with Prop 40, because I was the most confused about it before I started researching it, and I know for a fact I am not alone! What it does is levies a one-time 5 percent tax on anyone with a net worth of more than $1 billion, and then that money would be used to fund food and medical programs for people who can’t afford them.

Per CalMatters:

Proposition 40 would require the estimated 200 Californians whose net worth exceeded $1 billion at the start of this year to pay a one-time 5% tax. Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, the group that put the measure on the ballot, projects that it would raise roughly $100 billion over five years. That money would be earmarked primarily for healthcare, with some reserved for food assistance and education. If propositions 41 or 42 earn more votes than Proposition 40, this measure would be nullified.

Then again, if you watch any of the scare-ads about it, you would be forgiven if you thought this was one of those bullshit proposals that is so deceptive that a vote for it would end up with California renamed as Jefferson State or some shit, and there are of course any number of discussions and debates we could all have over whether it would be properly administered, but it’s actually legit: Voting “Yes” on Prop 40 would, indeed, tax the billionaires. It’s even sponsored by a bunch of my favorite unions!

Naturally, the billionaires, who won’t fucking leave the state no matter how much they threaten to and I so very much wish they would, are flipping their collective lid over the prospect of paying their taxes, like normal humans, so there are anti-Prop 40 ads all over the place. They’re saying this is a tax on “everyone, not just billionaires.” I swear to fucking God! I’m beyond sick of billionaires (and trillionaires) shitting up my state, so I would love it if we could tax them into nonexistence with great malice, but I’ll settle for a one-time 5 percent tax, for now.

Unfortunately, California Gov. Gavin Newsom has also come out against this billionaire tax for reasons that I cannot personally fathom, because I am an impoverished writer rather than a filthy rich politico, mostly by choice, and in fact he has come out for a ban on wealth taxes in this election. What the fuck!

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.

Yo, Gov. Goodhair, what the fuck are you doing? I am sorry to show my extreme bias, but I think taxing the filthy rich and feeding hungry kids is good, actually!

These goddamn tech billionaires think they can buy California outright, and I sincerely hope that California proves them badly wrong. From June:

For Silicon Valley, pouring money into politics at this moment is existential as it races to develop artificial intelligence. With favorable candidates in office, tech companies say they will be able to grow at a breakneck rate while avoiding stifling regulations.

Ugh, it just makes my skin crawl. Here’s more on what they’re trying to pull this election cycle, and what Newsom is endorsing!

Prop 41 & and 42

Props 41 and 42 are a little easier to explain, kind of. They each would nullify Prop 40, if it gets passed and then they get passed too, which is a really nasty little shitty trick, but in different ways. Prop 41 would require audits of any new tax-related propositions before they can even make it onto the ballot, and ongoing audits of certain state programs funded by those taxes. It would also nullify Prop 40 if they both pass.

And then there’s Prop 42, which makes it nearly impossible to add new taxes on the rich, ever again! Look at the assholes who are backing this shit, besides Gov. Newsom:

Yes on 42 - Protect Retirement & Life Savings is leading the campaign in support of Proposition 42. The committee has reported $49.2 million in contributions. Building a Better California, which has received a majority of its funding from Google Co-founder Sergey Brin, also registered in support of the initiative. After accounting for PAC-to-PAC contributions, the committee reported $3.5 million in contributions. Proposition 42 received endorsements from the California Small Business Association, the California Taxpayers Association, and Reform California.

Bonus Prop

Okay, I said I wasn’t going to focus on anything but 40, 41, and 42, but since Reform California has raised its ugly pinhead, I want to make sure everyone knows exactly what sorts of people are putting this shit on the ballot. Reform California is one of many efforts by far-right fuckwit Carl DeMaio, whom I first encountered doing a racism at a Latino reporter more than 20 years ago, and he’s gotten worse ever since. DeMaio is so bad, as a matter of fact, that Republicans came out a couple years ago and said not to elect him, because he is a far-right freak, and a conspiracy creep, and a real asshole with a face like a boot, I mean to boot!

But don’t just take it from me. Take it from me!

So spare a little loathing for Prop 39, which is another of DeMaio’s pet projects, which is taking voting rights away from people!

Fuck that guy, and his wannabe voter ID laws, which he likes because it makes billionaires hump his gross, bluish-white legs. Oh God and they’re all circling like vultures on this one, those racist fucks, because look who else is involved — every white-boy dipshit billionaire in the country.

Supporters: The Transparency Foundation; Latino American Political Assn; Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn; CA Women’s Leadership Assn
Opponents: ACLU California Action; Common Cause; League of Women Voters of California.

So here’s my recommendations for the propositions I have discussed here, California voters!

40: HELL TO THE YES
39: FUCK TO THE NO
41: ABSOLUTELY NOT
42: ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, STILL NO

Naturally, I also recommend that you do your own research on this and the rest of the propositions, but those are my recommendations, to make the filthy rich types cry.

Remember, billionaire bois, taxation is the moderate compromise! I know none of you assholes read, so you don’t know shit about history and definitely aren’t reading this, but trust me on this one: The public fucking hates you at this point because of the things that you do and say — and no security measure is going to keep you from a really, really, really hangry populace.