Jon’s Weekend Reading Recommendations for the week ending 8/15! Articles, Charts, Videos, Podcasts & More… And the war of the Dems over Prop. 40
I am perusing the web all week, and I write about some of the things I find. But I there is so much great stuff that I do not write about, but I collect for this Saturday column. Enjoy.
This Saturday feature, which is a labor of love for me, is packed with amazing content. It’s very popular. For those of you who subscribe ($70/year, $7/month), this column is a thank you for your support of my independent work. There are a couple of items above the paywall worth reading/watching. But that is the tip of the iceberg. SO MUCH more under the paywall.
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First - A Saturday Mini Column - Prop. 40 Food Fight
California Democrats have finally found a tax they can’t all agree to raise.
Proposition 40, the November measure imposing a one-time 5 percent tax on billionaires, ought to be irresistible to the progressive left. Bernie Sanders is enthusiastically for it. The California Democratic Party is for it. The California Labor Federation is for it. Its supporters get to say “billionaires” every few sentences, which normally is enough to get everybody on the same page.
But apparently not this time.
Gov. Gavin Newsom opposes Prop. 40. So does Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra. Elizabeth Warren won’t take a position and says this sort of wealth tax should be handled at the federal level. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is still sitting this one out. And Tom Steyer says he’ll vote yes, while also calling the measure “better than nothing” and declining to spend money helping it pass.
You almost need a scorecard. Bernie says yes. Steyer says yes, but apparently not with his checkbook. Newsom says no. Becerra says no. Warren says Washington should deal with it. AOC remains undecided. Organized labor is split, too.
And no, the opponents haven’t suddenly become Milton Friedman fans. Their problem is that Prop. 40 could interfere with the tax and spending arrangements they already prefer. California could lose ongoing income-tax revenue if billionaires leave, while Prop. 40 would earmark 90 percent of its proceeds for health care. So this isn’t really an argument over whether to soak the rich. It’s an argument over who gets to do the soaking, which revenue streams need protecting, and which Democratic constituencies get first crack at the money.
That may be the most California Democratic fight imaginable: everybody has a different answer to the question of how to tax billionaires — including two who can’t quite bring themselves to answer at all.
Reading/Watching/Listening Recommendations!
GAVIN’S HIGH SPEED RAIL DISASTER
Katy Grimes of the California Globe takes another hard look at California’s long-troubled high-speed rail project, arguing that the state has spent $18 billion without producing operational service while projected costs have exploded far beyond what voters approved in 2008. Grimes revisits Gavin Newsom’s decision to preserve the Central Valley segment, questions whether the project still complies with Proposition 1A, and details funding, ridership and construction problems she says make the case for finally pulling the plug on what she calls an enormous taxpayer boondoggle.
THE TWO-THIRDS VOTE REQUIREMENT FOR TAXES IS FAIR
Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, argues in the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association’s California Commentary that requiring two-thirds voter approval for local special taxes is fair and historically grounded. Using Proposition 43 as the immediate backdrop, Coupal contends supermajority requirements protect minority interests, encourage fiscal discipline, promote broader public consent and fit comfortably within American constitutional tradition. He also points to California’s long history of heightened voting thresholds and voters’ 2024 rejection of Proposition 5 as evidence these protections retain public support.
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