Prop 40, California’s historic billionaire tax, is ahead in the polls.
Billionaires have raised more than $187 million to stop it. They've run tens of millions of dollars in TV ads and filled mailboxes across the state with glossy flyers. Voters are still with us, because we all recognize that this broken economy needs reform.
But the billionaires have a backup plan, and we need to talk about it right now. Give us 60 seconds of your time, and if you’re not all-in to stop this, you can scroll away – no hard feelings.
Sergey Brin's political group, Building a Better California, paid to put two more measures on your ballot: Prop 41 and Prop 42. You won't find the word "billionaire" on either one, but both were written to try to cancel Prop 40.
If Prop 41 or Prop 42 gets more YES votes than Prop 40, the billionaire tax might never takeeffect, even if it passes with a majority.
So we have to win three times. YES on 40. NO on 41. NO on 42.
Picture a voter at her kitchen table, ballot in hand. She's heard about the billionaire tax, so she marks YES on 40. A little further down is Prop 41, which says it "requires audits" for new taxes. Who's against audits? YES. Then comes Prop 42, which bans new taxes on "personal property." She owns a car and has a small retirement account. YES again.
She set out to tax billionaires. She just cast two votes to protect them.
That's the plan, and right now it's working. In the latest Berkeley poll, Prop 42 trails Prop 40 by just two points, and nearly a quarter of voters are still undecided. Back in August, fewer than three in ten voters had even heard of Props 41 and 42.
It’s people against ads in this fight. The billionaires are blanketing the airwaves with confusing, deliberately misleading info about these other propositions.
Thankfully, Yes on Prop 40 is a people-powered movement, with people knocking doors across the state, dispelling these lies. Will you support that field campaign with $10, $20, or even $100 right now?