Thes “No on Prop 40,” continued its assault on our mailbox yesterday, lobbing in two glossy, four-page, 8.5 x 11 f-lyers. Both are meant to appeal to the woke-but-easily-fooled California voter. The front-page of one features a beautiful middle-aged nurse in black scrubs, with a stethoscope over her shoulder. She looks hip, with three silver bracelets on her right wrist. There’s a silver streak in her hair, which is parted down the middle. The text consists of two false assertions: “Healthcare providers oppose Prop 40 because it jeopardizes funding for vital services,” and “It will make our healthcare problems even worse.” Slick of them to acknowledge that we have “healthcare problems.”
The front page of the second flyer shows the crossed fingers that a middle-aged WM in a business suit is hiding behind his back. He supposedly represents “The special interests behind Prop 40.” The wealth tax was drafted and put on the ballot by the SEIU-United Healthcare Workers. (If only the working class saw itself as a “special interest!” )
Page two asserts that “Prop 40 was never intended to be just a ‘one-time’ tax. The special interests behind the measure included a hidden provision that gives the State Legislature the power to expand the tax.”
Page 3 warns that “Prop 40 taxes savings and retirement accounts for the first time in state history.” True, but only of billionaires.
On page 4, a Stanford professor foresees Prop 40 “chasing out business leaders who have helped power the state’s strong economy and job climate for decades.”
We don’t know how much the corporations have given to buy the support of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California –a lobbying group that reports getting donations from “Levi Strauss & Co (via the Levi Strauss Foundation), Pfizer (via the Pfizer Foundation), Adobe, Starbucks (matching employee contributions), Nike (ditto), Bank of New York Mellon, PayPal (via PayPal Charitable Giving Fund) and Lyft.”
Reality check As of Sept. 30, the SEIU had raised $36 million, most of it in labor donated to get the Wealth Tax on the ballot. The billionaires and their buddies have already spent $205 million to kill the measure, and their campaign has only just begun. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has given $138 million to the cause, which sounds like a lot of money if you don’t know the man’s net worth is $479 billion (and rising). Brin’s donation is .0128% of his current net worth.
Google’s “AI Overview” is still fair and balanced in summarizing the arguments:
“Proponents state Prop 40 implements a one-time 5% tax on state residents with a net worth over $1 billion (affecting roughly 200-250 residents). It will raise an estimated $100 billion, with 90% going to restore healthcare funding cuts from federal legislations, and 10% to education/food assistance.
“Critics, including business groups, tech executives, and some prominent Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom, argue it drives wealthy residents and assets out of California and harms the state’s economic competitiveness.”
Hypertext Carlos Puebla –the Woody Guthrie of Cuba– wrote a song in 1960 that applies to California billionaires in 2026:
Bernie Sanders, Ro Khana and Insurance Commissioner Jane Kim will be speaking in favor of Prop 40 at the Warfield in SF on Saturday, 5 pm.
