Tax the Rich wealth

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PRIMARY 2 26 EZ CA

SEE PROP 40 CA

merri ok

see estate tax

see inequality

WSJ says ineq a problem, but capl flight yul brenner?!

post hoc vs prevent?

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gavin waffles 1 26?

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OCI 10 26 PP ~ BILL TAX...ifornia has taken an oppositional stance towards a Billionaire wealth tax in California, which is insane, it's because Establishment corporate Dems installed a corporate lobbyist named Jodi Hicks as President of the organization.

Before she was President of Planned Parenthood, she was Vice President of Government Affairs for the California Medical Association, the #1 lobbying group that works to kill universal healthcare. And before that, she was with two corporate lobbying firms. Jodi Hicks is one of the reasons we don't have universal healthcare in California, now she's using her perch as President of Planned Parenthood to try to kill a billionaire wealth tax in California.

She also runs cover for notorious sex abusers in Sacramento, but that's a different story. You may also know her husband: Paul Mitchell of PDI (Political Data), that the Party and campaigns use for their data.

The real culprit is Gavin Newsom: He called in favors with CTA, Fire, Planned Parenthood and others to come up with nonsensical reasons to block a wealth tax. Newsom is trying to protect his billionaire donor base with Tech Titans he intends to tap for his Presidential race, and it stinks. It's full blown pay-to-play corruption.

Make sure folks in your circles know: It's YES on Prop 40, and NO on Props 41 and 42.

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REUTERS

Ballot measure would slap 5% wealth tax on estimated 200 to 250 billionaires
Economists debate how much it would add to state's tax revenues
California known for its citizen initiatives, but only one in three pass

Sept 20 (Reuters) - No state may be a more natural fit for a tax on billionaires than California. The state leans left politically, needs funds for healthcare and is home to as many as 250 billionaires collectively worth upwards of $2 trillion.

But the November 3 ballot initiative Proposition 40, which asks Californians whether to impose a ‌one-time 5% tax on the state's billionaires, is far from certain to pass, political analysts say, amid a debate that has raised questions about income inequality and the state's future business prospects.

The Misinformation Monitor newsletter rounds up international misinformation narratives, with a "Real or Fake?" quiz in every edition. Sign up here.

Whether and how to tax the ultrawealthy are questions that extend well beyond the Hollywood Hills and Silicon Valley. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat and democratic socialist, filmed a video in front of billionaire investor Ken Griffin's penthouse as part of an ultimately successful campaign to tax high-end second homes in the city. Even a majority of Republicans see billionaires as creating unfairness and contributing to economic woes, one 2025 poll showed, opens new tab.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll in August found 64% of independent registered voters in the six-day nationwide poll said they support increasing taxes on corporations and billionaires, compared to 15% who oppose ⁠the idea.

"Billionaires are no longer very popular," said University of California, Berkeley economics professor Emmanuel Saez, a researcher of wealth inequality who helped write Proposition 40. They have "enormous wealth, enormous power."

Saez describes the proposal as very simply "a tax on billionaires to fund healthcare."

California has more billionaires than any other state, according to a Forbes estimate last year, and is home to some of the country's most valuable companies, including tech giants Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab, Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab, Meta (META.O), opens new tab and Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab.

POLLS SHOW IT AHEAD — FOR NOW

A UC Berkeley IGS Poll in August found 48% of likely voters supported Proposition 40, with 41% opposed, while a September Public Policy Institute of California poll showed it leading 52% to 46%.

California ballot measures typically need robust early support to survive Election Day. Undecided voters are more apt to vote "no" when the time comes, political analysts say, and opponents have yet to crank up their advertising campaign.

"California ballot measures tend to lose support over time, and if it's polling below 50% in August, that's not a good sign for its prospects," said John Pitney, a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College.

Backers say California's measure would generate $100 billion for healthcare, food assistance and education. But skeptics peg the revenue estimate at closer to $40 billion and say it could also drive some billionaires ‌out of ⁠state, depriving California of future tax revenue and investment.

Item 1 of 3 Google cofounder Sergey Brin attends a private dinner for technology and business leaders hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 4, 2025. REUTERS/Brian

Opposition has been bolstered by billionaires such as Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder who has spent more than $100 million to defeat Proposition 40 and support countermeasures on the same ballot that would effectively void it.

"I fled socialism with my family in 1979 and know the devastating, oppressive society it created in the Soviet Union. I don’t want California to end up in the same place," Brin, 53, whose family left the Soviet Union when he was a child, told the New York Times.

Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat widely believed to be running for president in 2028, also opposes Proposition 40, instead advocating for a nationwide federal wealth tax.

COLORFUL INITIATIVE HISTORY

California ⁠ballot initiatives draw unusual attention because the state combines a powerful direct-democracy system with the nation's largest state economy and population. The process allows citizens to propose laws, though most initiatives are drafted by interest groups or lawyers.

Proposition 13 in 1978, which capped and rolled back property taxes, became a national symbol of a tax revolt that shaped US politics.

But California voters have only approved one in three citizen initiatives historically.

In 2022, another California ballot measure aimed at increasing ⁠taxes on top earners, Proposition 30, lost 58% to 42%, even though Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two to one.

"Sixty percent of Californians now reliably vote Democratic for statewide races, but that doesn't mean that they're really liberal on taxing, spending, or even many social issues," said Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at UC San Diego.

European countries including France, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Germany repealed wealth taxes between 1997 and ⁠2018 amid concerns about capital flight, avoidance and economic competitiveness. The California proposition is retroactive to January 1, limiting billionaires' ability to escape the tax by moving.

Saez said the tax was unlikely to prompt many billionaires or the tech startups that are making people wealthy to move, because of the quality of California's universities, research, infrastructure and talent.

"It's just absurd to think that Silicon Valley is going to come to a standstill because of a billionaire wealth tax," he said.

Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California, and Ann Saphir in San Francisco; editing by Donna Bryson and Nia Williams

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California Billionaire Tax

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ol ads growus

OFFICIAL TOP FUNDERS. Valid only for September 2025 LIMITS ABILITY OF VOTERS TO RAISE REVENUES FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES. INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT. Petition circulation paid for by Protect Prop. 13, a project of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Latest Official Top Funders: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/ballotmeasures/initiative-and-referendum-status/official-top-funders

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AN 9 26

What happened after New York raised taxes on the rich

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FORTUNE MAG

Six of California’s 214 billionaires have been widely reported to have left the state in time to avoid a proposed 5% wealth tax—but that small cohort would have collectively generated $27 billion in tax revenue, roughly a fourth of the initiative’s projected $100 billion haul.

Billionaires are backing a fight

Billionaires in and outside of California are working to fight the tax, which has been a harbinger for more wealth taxes across the country.

Brin donated $20 million to a group called Building a Better California that is giving out $15 to people who sign their three countermeasures. The group’s proposals would prevent retroactive taxes and narrow the definition of California residency to fight against the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act’s application to anyone who lived in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026.

Two billionaire-backed political action committees, Stop the Squeeze and Golden State Promise, have launched to stop the proposal.

Chicago-based venture capitalist Daniel Tierney donated $200,000 to Stop the Squeeze, and crypto billionaire Chris Larsen is backing Golden State Promise, the *New York Times* reported.

Since the California initiative was announced, other states have proposed higher taxes on their high-earning residents. In January, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee backed a 3% tax increase on millionaires. Last week, Washington, which is one of nine states without an income tax, passed a 9.9% tax on personal income above $1 million per year.

“We’ve got more millionaires and billionaires than we’ve ever had, and they’re paying, effectively, a 4% tax rate,” Rep. Brianna Thomas, of Seattle, a Democrat who supported the measure, previously told Fortune. “Meanwhile, you got working folks paying 11% of their income, and the lowest-income people paying 14%. Isn’t it unfair for those who have the most, to pay the least, and those who have the least to pay, the most, proportionally?”

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DCK 9 26

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › 2026_California_Proposition_40

2026 California Proposition 40 - Wikipedia

Proposition 40, also known as the California billionaire tax or California wealth tax, is a combined initiated constitutional amendment and state statute that will appear on the November 3, 2026, ballot in the state of California. If approved by voters, the state's billionaires would pay a one-time 5 percent tax on their accumulated wealth.

Common Dreams

https://www.commondreams.org › news › billionaire-ads-wealth-tax

Billionaire-Backed Groups Launch Ad Blitz Against California Wealth Tax ...

Aug 25, 2026Google co-founder Sergey Brin and venture capitalist Peter Thiel are among the billionaires bankrolling ads against a proposed one-time tax on the wealthiest Californians.

The San Joaquin Valley Sun

https://sjvsun.com › california › billionaires-launch-ad-blitz-to-defeat-calif-wealth-tax-ballot-measure

Billionaires launch ad blitz to defeat Calif. wealth tax ballot measure

Jul 20, 2026A coalition of billionaires opposed to a proposed California wealth tax has reserved nearly $87 million in advertising, launching an extensive TV ad campaign across the state.

Reuters

https://www.reuters.com › business › retail-consumer › billionaires-abound-california-why-not-tax-their-wealth-2026-09-20

Billionaires abound in California. Why not tax their wealth?

1 day agoNo state may be a more natural fit for a tax on billionaires than California. It leans left and its 250 billionaires are worth nearly $2 trillion. But a ballot initiative to impose a one-time 5% ...

California Budget and Policy Center

https://calbudgetcenter.org › resources › billionaire-tax-explained-what-proposition-40-would-mean-for-california

Billionaire Tax Explained: What Proposition 40 Would Mean for ...

Understand California's Proposition 40, the proposed one-time billionaire wealth tax, and its potential impacts on the state.

Fortune

https://fortune.com › 2026 › 09 › 19 › california-billionaire-wealth-tax-prop-40-movement-more-states-federal-government-other-countries

California's billionaire tax could 'kickstart a movement ... - Fortune

2 days agoA ballot initiative that would impose a wealth tax on California's billionaires could be the start of a global trend, according to six Nobel Prize-winning economists.

New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com › 2026 › 07 › 17 › us › california-billionaire-tax-opponents-ad-campaign.html

Billionaires Prepare $87 Million Ad Campaign to Block California Wealth Tax

Jul 17, 2026A coalition backed by the Google co-founder Sergey Brin and wealthy tech investors is trying to neutralize a proposed one-time tax on the state's richest residents.

Holland & Knight

https://www.hklaw.com › en › insights › publications › 2026 › 09 › californias-proposed-billionaire-tax-what-you-need-to-know

California's Proposed Billionaire Tax: What You Need to Know

Sep 10, 2026California Proposition 40, the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act, would impose a one-time excise tax of up to 5 percent on the net worth of certain California-resident individuals and applicable trusts. The proposed tax would apply based on California residency as of January 1, 2026, while measuring net worth as of December 31, 2026, meaning individuals who later leave the state could remain subject to ...

Kiplinger

https://www.kiplinger.com › taxes › new-california-wealth-tax-whats-happening

New California Wealth Tax Heads to the 2026 Ballot: Who ... - Kiplinger

Jun 18, 2026A proposed tax on extreme wealth in California is moving closer to voters. Here's what it means for high earners and others in the Golden State.

Los Angeles Times

https://www.latimes.com › california › story › 2026-08-17 › billionaires-open-purse-to-fight-california-wealth-tax

Billionaires ready to spend big to fight California wealth tax

Aug 18, 2026A group funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and other billionaires gave $5 million to a group opposing Proposition 40, the proposed wealth tax on the November ballot.

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Ripple Co-Founder Leads $40M Push to Counter California Wealth Tax

crypto tax

Ripple

Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and Tim Draper launched Grow California, a $40 million political initiative targeting moderate legislators to counter a proposed wealth tax.

Crypto Journalist

Anas Hassan

Last updated:

February 1, 2026

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Ripple Co-Founder Leads $40M Push to Counter California Wealth Tax

Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and venture capitalist Tim Draper have launched Grow California, a $40 million political initiative designed to elect moderate state legislators and push back against labor unions, with a proposed wealth tax serving as the primary catalyst for Silicon Valley’s latest political mobilization.

According to NYT, the effort, which began with $5 million checks from each founder in September, represents one of the most significant financial commitments from the tech and crypto sectors to reshape California politics.

The ballot measure that triggered this response, backed by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, would impose a one-time 5% tax on net worth exceeding $1 billion, including unrealized gains on assets not yet sold.

“Whoever designed that wealth tax in the unions — wow,” Larsen said. “They woke up the sleeping giant like I have never seen.“

Ripple California Wealth Tax - Chris Larsen Image

Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen. | Source: Bloomberg

Tech Billionaires Challenge Union Influence With Business-Friendly Candidates

Larsen, whose net worth is nearly $15 billion from Ripple holdings and crypto assets, said he expects to personally commit $30 million to the organization.

“If it takes a couple of cycles, fine — that’s what we’re here for,” he told The New York Times when asked about potential November losses.

The group plans to target about a dozen state legislative seats this year, focusing on public safety, homelessness, and budget discipline, according to Shaudi Fulp, the former Sacramento lobbyist leading daily operations.

While Democrats control more than two-thirds of seats in both legislative chambers, Grow California will not engage in the 2026 gubernatorial race or expensive ballot proposition campaigns.

Both founders come from the crypto industry, though they stress that the initiative does not represent the interests of the crypto sector specifically.

Larsen acknowledged learning lessons from Fairshake, the crypto super PAC backed by Ripple that spent over $100 million shaping the current Congress.

Draper, known for Bitcoin-themed accessories and his persistent campaign to split California into multiple states, did not respond to requests for comment.

“The government unions do a great job,” Larsen said, adding with a laugh, “I have respect for the job that they’ve done. They show up, and they’re there consistently. But that’s going to clash with a lot of the things that are going to make California successful if there’s no counterforce.“

California Crypto Politics Intensifies Amid Governor Race And Regulatory Expansion

The wealth tax debate coincides with former Assembly member Ian Calderon’s entry into the 2026 gubernatorial race on a pro-Bitcoin platform.

Calderon, 39, who served as Assembly Majority Leader from 2016 to 2020, declared his vision for California to become “the undisputed leader on Bitcoin” in his campaign announcement video.

Meanwhile, Governor Gavin Newsom has intensified criticism of President Donald Trump’s crypto-related pardons, launching a state-backed website tracking what his office calls “criminal cronies.“

The site prominently features Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who received a full pardon in October after serving four months for Bank Secrecy Act violations, and Ross Ulbricht, whose life sentence for Silk Road operations was commuted.

Beyond political battles, California continues advancing digital asset infrastructure through the Digital Financial Assets Law, which takes effect in July 2025 and requires all crypto service providers to obtain state licenses.

The Assembly also unanimously passed AB 1180 in June, creating a pilot program for state fee payments using digital assets that runs through 2031.

Global Tax Frameworks Contrast California’s Uncertain Trajectory

While California debates wealth taxation, other jurisdictions are implementing clearer crypto tax structures.

Japan’s 2026 tax reform blueprint reduces crypto taxation from up to 55% to a flat 20% for specified digital assets handled by registered businesses, though the exact qualifying criteria remain undefined.

Similarly, the European Union’s DAC8 tax transparency law took effect on January 1, requiring crypto exchanges and service providers to collect and report user information to national tax authorities, with data sharing between EU countries beginning July 1.

“Tax authorities now have an automated dashboard tracking your digital assets,” wrote Bitcoin educator Heidi Chakos.

However, just like California, South Korea faces mounting uncertainty over its repeatedly delayed crypto tax regime, now scheduled for January 2027 despite lacking essential infrastructure.

Switzerland also postponed the automatic exchange of crypto account information with foreign tax authorities until at least 2027, though legal frameworks take effect in January 2026.

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https://duckduckgo.com/?q=TAX%20THE%20RICH%20ROTHMAN%20SLUR+site:www.huffpost.com&atb=v353-1)

HuffPost

https://www.huffpost.com › entry › steven-roth-tax-the-rich-racial-slur_n_69fa3fa7e4b04a49ec0bb01a

Ultra-Wealthy CEO Says 'Tax The Rich' Akin To A Racial Slur

May 5, 2026New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's plan to tax the city's ultra-rich residents to help patch a $5.4 billion fiscal hole is getting pushback from the ultra-rich, at least one of whom believes "tax the rich" is akin to a racial slur. Steven Roth, the CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, used his ...

building better ca 20 b 1st time donor 4 26

5% 1 times tax on all wealth, not just income; zuck gets one dollar, rest in stock

newsome many bill give $; ca has 200 billionaires; # went up in mass; 7% increase just nornal; nvidia ceo says never thot 1x about it.

Building a Better California initially raised $35 million, with $20 million coming from Brin, who had engaged in discussions with California business leaders about “raising hundreds of millions of dollars for a California influence campaign.” The largest non-tech donor was Wonderful Company co-owner Stewart Resnick, who contributed $2 million. Other donors to Building a Better California include cryptocurrency investor Chris Larsen; venture capitalists Mike Moritz, Peter Thiel, and John Doerr; DoorDash co-founder Tony Xu; Affirm CEO Max Levchin; and Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison. ^1 ^2

Tech Billionaires’ $80 Million Plot To Break California - YouTube

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WSJ warns Trump’s billionaire tax cut is hurting the US economy

The Wall Street Journalhas a history of loving tax cuts, but in a new report, they're warning that President Donald Trump's billionaire tax cuts are hurting the U.S. economy.

As recently as Dec. 31, the Journal was singing the praisesof the nine states in which people would pay less in taxes. A little over a month later, Carol Ryan wrote that when billionaires don't pay their taxes, "look at who picks up the tab."

"Wealth concentration is affecting the wider economy," the report said, and it "shows why the issue isn’t going away."

California is proposing a wealth tax, which WSJ is concerned about, but only because for many rich households, their money is tied to the stock market.

"This could mean the entire economy pays a steep price in the next market correction," the report said.

"California has the highest concentration of billionaires in the U.S. with 255 individuals, or slightly more than a fifth of the country’s billionaire population," the report said, citing the wealth-intelligence firm Altrata.

A proposal for a ballot measure in November would levy an amount "calculated based on whichever is the higher of a billionaire’s voting interest or economic interest in a company." It would be a one-time levy on the wealth of any California resident worth over $1 billion. The solution is an idea to fix the Medicaid shortfall left by the GOP's significant cuts to the program in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" measure passed last year.

The right-wing Tax Foundation claims it will hurt tech leaders.

The ultrarich could simply leave California if they're unhappy, which is what Elon Musk did when he moved SpaceX and Tesla to Texas. However, Musk claims he did it because he was angry over gender identity laws. The ballot measure must still collect signatures before it can be up for a vote.

The Journal noted that Google co-founder Sergey Brin left California for Florida and Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He also moved several LLCs to Nevada.

Far-right Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel suggested he might do the same.

The Journal claims that such threats from billionaires might be enough to convince California voters not to tax the ultrawealthy.

The Investment Migration Council wrote on its websitethat "tax avoidance is the main reason actor Yul Brynner, entrepreneur Eduardo Saverin and inventor Earl Tupper abandoned U.S. citizenship."

One of the biggest arguments Democrats made in 2022 was for adding more workers to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to focus on tax evasion by the wealthiest Americans, which costs the U.S. approximately $150 billion each year, CNBC reported.

The Journal expects that billionaire tax evasion will likely become a more significant issue as the U.S. economy continues to slump and the wealth gap grows.

Since 1990, the WSJ has reported that the top 0.1 percent of wage earners now hold a much larger share of U.S. wealth. In the past 26 years, it has grown 14.4 percent for them.

"Meanwhile, the bottom half of American households have lost ground. Their 2.5 percent cut of the country’s wealth has slipped from 3.5 percent in 1990," the report said.

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AN 12 25 ROBT R

5. The fifth way to make more than a billion is to get the money from rich parents or relatives.

A new UBS report finds that a record number — 91 people — became billionaires in 2025 through inheritance. Their total bounty was almost $300 billion.

It’s the beginning of what’s expected to be the largest inter-generational wealth transfer in history, during which heirs will inherit at least $5.9 trillion over the next 15 years.

An estimated 45 percent of all wealth in America is inherited. That’s because, under U.S. tax law — which is itself largely a product of lobbying by the wealthy — the capital gains of one generation are wiped out when those assets are transferred to the next.

As Mitt Romney (remember him?) recently pointed out, had Elon Musk purchased his Tesla stock for, say, $1 billion and held it until his death, and if it were then worth $500 billion, he would never pay the 24 percent federal capital gains tax on the $499 billion profit. Under the current tax code, when Musk’s heirs inherit his stock, the assets will be treated as if the heirs purchased it for $500 billion. So no one will ever pay taxes on the $499 billion capital gain.

If unearned income were treated the same as earned income under the tax code, America’s non-working rich wouldn’t be billionaires. And if capital gains weren’t eliminated at death, many heirs wouldn’t be, either.

The good news is that Americans are becoming increasingly alarmed about the harms billionaires are inflicting on our system. A Harris poll released last month finds that over half of Americans (53 percent) believe that billionaires are threatening democracy.

In addition, a significant 71 percent of Americans believe there should be a wealth tax. And a majority believe there should be a cap on how much wealth a person can accumulate.

These schemes also threaten capitalism itself. The system doesn’t work when monopolies, insider trading, political payoffs, fraud, and large amounts of inherited wealth are rigging it. As the system loses public trust, it begins to unravel.

When and if sane and honest people ever again control the U.S. government, one of the first things they should do is enact a tax on large accumulations of wealth.

Also an end to the current rule that allows all capital gains to be erased when the owners of the capital die, thereby enabling heirs to inherit all the accumulated wealth tax-free.

Not the least, we must get big money out of politics — to end the bribes and corruption that have distorted capitalism for the benefit of a handful of people at the top. (Here’s a way to do it.)

*Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/.*

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although Democratic nominees have won the popular vote in seven of the United States' last eight presidential races, two-thirds of the U.S. Supreme Court consists of justices nominated by Republican presidents. One activist who can take a lot of credit for the High Court's shift to the far right is Leonard Leo, former executive vice president of the Federalist Society.

Leo helped select all three of former President Donald Trump's Supreme Court appointees: Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. And he remains a prominent figure in the right-wing judicial movement, still co-chairing the Federalist Society while heading his consulting firm CRC Advisors.

In a report published by **:{Rolling Stone on April 29, journalists Andrew Perez and Adam Rawnsley describe the connection between CRC, billionaire Charles Koch's political network and a "dark-money group that is currently arguing a Supreme Court case designed to preempt a wealth tax."}:

"Like many consulting firms," Perez and Rawnsley explain, "CRC does not publicly disclose its clients. However, several of the firm's clients were named in resumes that applicants submitted to an online jobs bank hosted by the Conservative Partnership Institute, which accidentally left the files exposed online. One CRC employee's 2024 resume says his clients include the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a dark-money group arguing a case before the Supreme Court this term that is designed to slam the door shut on a federal wealth tax. Experts say the case could upend the nation's tax code."

The Rolling Stone journalists note that the CRC employee's resume shows the person has "also worked for the Koch network's political advocacy arm, Americans for Prosperity."

Leo's judicial activities led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade with the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling in Jackson v. Women's Health Organization —ashe specifically recommended Supreme Court nominees he thought would favor that outcome.

Caroline Ciccone, president of the watchdog group Accountable.US, told Rolling Stone, "It's no surprise that Leonard Leo's for-profit consulting firm — which has pulled down a whopping $100 million from Leo's own nonprofit network — counts the Koch network and the group leading the Supreme Court billionaire bailout case as clients. We knew that Leo's fingerprints were all over these far-right causes, but now, it appears he's directly profiting off of them, too."

Ciccone adds, "There's no cause Leo won't take up if it means he'll profit."

*Read Rolling Stone's full report at this link (subscription required).

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an 10 21

no lnx twt

'Pelosi absolutely destroyed' the proposed tax on billionaires, says Democratic insider

Kenny Stancil and Common Dreams October 28, 2021

Although right-wing Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin publicly attacked a proposed billionaires' tax almost as soon as it was unveiled, one journalist argued Wednesday that blaming the West Virginia coal baron for shooting down the popular provision is an oversimplification that lets other conservative Democrats—including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who reportedly criticized the measure behind closed doors—off the hook.

Just hours after Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced his plan to make a few hundred super-rich tax dodgers pay a fairer share, Manchin threw cold water on the idea, calling it divisive to raise hundreds of billions of dollars to fund expanded public benefits and climate action by "targeting" those with $1 billion in assets or $100 million in annual income for three straight years. That led House Ways and Means Chair Richard Neal (D-Mass.) to declare that congressional support for the proposal is insufficient.

Given that he has done so much to weaken the Build Back Better Act, many believe Manchin alone is responsible for killing the billionaires' tax, but Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent made the case that this emerging narrative ignores the role played by other corporate Democrats.

For example, Pelosi, a multimillionaire from California, "sharply faulted the proposal at a caucus meeting earlier this week, according to a Democratic aide who overheard the remarks," wrote Sargent. "This aide told me Pelosi pronounced it a PR stunt that wouldn't accomplish anything."

"Pelosi absolutely destroyed it," said the aide.

According to Sargent:

Another senior Democratic aide rejected this idea, saying that Pelosi's criticism was confined to the fact that at the time there was no bill text for the proposal. Democrats coalesced around it only in recent days.

"The speaker expressed frustration Monday that there was no text and therefore impossible to score," this aide told me. "The thrust of her comments were about it being too late in the process not to have a codified proposal."

As Common Dreams has reported, the combined net worth of the nation's 745 billionaires skyrocketed by $2.1 trillion over the past year and a half, as millions were devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic repercussions. Taxing billionaires' unrealized stock gains emerged as a potential revenue-raiser after right-wing Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.)—swimming in campaign cash from Wall Street—single-handedly blew up her party's plan to hike taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals.

Sinema and other Big Pharma-bankrolled Democrats, including Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.) and Reps. Kathleen Rice (N.Y.), Scott Peters (Calif.), and Kurt Schrader (Ore.), have also undermined a proposal to allow Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug costs, which would have protected Americans from deadly price-gouging and saved the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars per year—leaving the party scrambling to figure out how to pay for its increasingly anemic reconciliation bill.

Regarding the billionaires' tax, Sargent argued that "other Democrats are waiting in the cloakroom to kill it with no fingerprints."

Neal, for instance, "has questioned whether it will hold up in court. That would dovetail with Pelosi's private opposition, and both of them working together suggest there may be plenty of other House Democrats privately opposed."

Moreover, "other Senate Democrats appear to oppose the proposal but don't want to say so openly," Sargent added. "After all, it's not easy to come down on the side of protecting the wealth of billionaires."

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an 1021

A reader asked the other day why the Republicans are voting against the full faith and credit of the United States when the GOP comprises so many millionaires and billionaires invested in financial markets. In other words, why would the very obscenely rich support a party that's clearly threatening the very obscene power of the very obscenely rich?

One theory, which I think is the right theory, is they don't want the Republicans to prevail. They think the Democrats will do the right thing for the sake of their country, not their party. The gamble is almost certainly the right one. Bringing the economy to the brink of panic is dangerous, but the actual risk is minimal given the Democrats are the party of governance. They would not call the Republicans' bluff.

Proof of this theory can be seen in the near-total silence of the very obscenely rich in the wake of news that the Senate Republicans had voted against the full faith and credit of the United States. Sure, there's been a few gentle reminders that defaulting on the national debt would be, um, subpar. But that's nothing compared to the hysterical outcry against the Democrats and their big plan to raise taxes on the very obscenely rich to pay for reshaping the government. While they have little to say about the real danger of default, they have a lot to say about higher taxes! That would hurt business! The economy! Jobs!

One takeaway is the very obscenely rich are lousy with bad faith.The government taxed them at much higher rates decades ago (at more than 90 percent during the Eisenhower administration). Yet they still managed to continue being very obscenely rich. During the same period, the economy was gangbusters. Jobs, too. The Democrats haven't yet passed their 10-year infrastructure bills, but so far, they seem unaffected by the lousy bad faith of the very obscenely rich (though the rates they are aiming for are not nearly high enough).

The other takeaway is the very obscenely rich are fully supportive of the Republican Party's efforts to sabotage the country just enough to maintain parasitic control of it. The GOP and the very obscenely rich don't want to kill off democracy. That would be bad for business. They only want to weaken it. As I said earlier this week, the party voting against America's credit is the same party "undermining the national recovery from the covid pandemic, which is the same party tolerating insurgents who nearly brought down the republic, which is the same party eroding the rule of law, which is the same party welcoming interference by Russia, which is … so on and so forth." The very obscenely rich, meanwhile, have resumed campaign donations to Republicans who voted to toss the 2020 election results. Firms like Home Depot and Walmart want the people to buy their stuff. They also want to prevent the people from flexing the sovereignty that would prevent them fromcontinuing to extract wealth from the people.

Those of us worried about the future of democracy have pinned hope on the Democrats passing election reform. I've pointed out one reason that's not enough. We need to crack down on lawlessness, too. But all of the above is another reason reforming elections is insufficient. If we're going to fight authoritarianism creeping through the body politic, we need to do more about the very obscenely rich who are paving the way for that authoritarian creep with their money. The democratic way of doing that is with higher, much higher, taxation.

The problem is worse than it looks. The very obscenely rich are not only financing Republicans prepared to deny the sovereignty of the people. Directly and indirectly, they are enabling the bullies, thugs and terrorists trying to bring the republic down. In April, The Guardian reported a Christian fundraising site connected the Proud Boys and other violent groups to "anonymous high-dollar donors." Robert Mercer, Donald Trump's sugar daddy, backs far-right candidates and a social media network insurgents used to organize the assault on the US Capitol. Charles Koch, the industrialist, is tied to a vast propaganda network that includes VDare, a fascist organization. Virtually all organized anti-government "protests" during the covid pandemic can be traced back to the very obscenely rich. Mercer's daughter, Rebekah, has been called "one of the chief financiers of the fascist movement."

Right now, the Democrats are focused on getting two infrastructure packages through the Congress to reshape government and the US economy. Their focus is on raising taxes on the very obscenely rich just enough to pay for it. Democracy demands taking that another step. To fight fascism, we must fight the people paying for it. That means raising taxes higher, much higher, on the very obscenely rich.

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omg

https://www.alternet.org/2021/09/clear-and-present-danger-majority-of-trump-voters-believe-its-time-to-split-the-country-in-two/

no lnx table

'Clear and present danger': Majority of Trump voters believe it’s 'time to split the country' in two

David Badash and The New Civil Rights Movement September 30, 2021

The highly-respected University of Virginia's nonpartisan Center for Politics has released a new study that finds a majority of Trump voters believe it's time to split the country into two, with "red states" and "blue states" seceding from the Union.

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The organization, headed by Larry Sabato of "Sabato's Crystal Ball," reports that four in ten Biden voters agree.

"The divide between Trump and Biden voters is deep, wide, and dangerous. The scope is unprecedented, and it will not be easily fixed," said UVA Center for Politics Director Larry J. Sabato.

"In order to figure out ways to bridge these divides, we need to understand not just the divides themselves, but also understand the ways in which we can, together, move forward to reach common ground. This project helps us do both," said Larry Schack of Project Home Fire, a new initiative partnering with the UVA Center for Politics.

The report top-line revelations include: "Trump and Biden voters are at crisis stage"; there is tremendous "fear and distrust among Biden and Trump voters"; and "Many Trump and Biden voters believe the deck is stacked against them, and their commitment to democracy is wavering."

Crystal Ball's managing editor, Kyle Kondik, tweeted out some charts (below) from the project. Among the disturbing but unsurprising revelations:

Eight in 10 Biden and Trump voters say elected officials from the opposition party present a "clear and present danger" to democracy. Almost eight in 10 Biden and Trump voters say Americans who support the opposite party have also become a "clear and present danger" to the American way of life.

The report also finds strong areas of common ground, including on the need for improvements to the electric grid, water supply, roads, rail, and bridges, and raising taxes on the wealthy.

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