Tom Steyer is running for governor on a promise to close what he calls the "Trump Tax Loophole" in Prop 13 and raise $20 billion a year—but the law dates to 1978, Jerry Brown signed it, and California's own fiscal analysts put the real number closer to $8-12 billion. Meanwhile, the broader tax fight is reshaping California politics in real time: a union-backed billionaire wealth tax has reportedly triggered an exodus of 48 billionaires and $1.1 trillion in wealth before it's even passed, with Google's founders and Zuckerberg among those who have already left. With Gavin Newsom warning the wealth tax will backfire, a $18 billion structural deficit persisting despite record revenues, and a new UC Berkeley study showing cities are taxing affordable housing into oblivion, California is facing compounding fiscal crises that no single ballot measure can fix.
Tom Steyer renamed a 1978 Democratic law after Donald Trump and called it a plan. The loophole is real. The history, and the math, are not.
SEIU-UHW's asset seizure tax has already cost the state $16.4 billion per year in lost revenue—and it hasn't even passed yet.
Cities skim $300 million a year in fees from affordable housing projects, then wonder why we can't house families.
The Robinhood CEO says he loves this state. That's why his warning should terrify Sacramento.
Even Gavin Newsom admits taxing billionaires will backfire. Europe already proved it. Why won't Sacramento listen?
Inherited wealth wants to destroy builders while protecting their own loopholes. The data exposes the fraud.
Private polls show 80-90% of billionaires already gone or leaving. This isn't about the rich—it's about California's survival.
A quiet amendment to the "Billionaire Tax" would force founders to go bankrupt or surrender control of their companies.
Per capita spending jumped from $4,350 to $12,940 while population grew just 11%. Where did all that money go?
One in 12 UCSD freshmen can't do middle school math—and 25% of them had perfect 4.0 GPAs in high school.