By Anabel Sosa
SFGate, San Francisco
(TNS)
California’s proposed billionaire tax has commanded most of this election’s attention, but a less-talked-about tax measure appears to be one of the few statewide tax propositions that is likely to succeed.
A recent poll from UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies released Thursday found Proposition 3 is likely to pass, with 54% of likely voters saying they plan to vote yes, while 37% said they plan to vote no. It is the only measure out of seven that were surveyed that had more than 50% approval.
Prop. 3 is a tax measure that would make higher income tax rates permanent for single people who earn more than $371,000 or couples who earn more than $742,000. It would make permanent the existing tax rates, which are set to expire after 2030. If passed, 89% of tax revenue will continue to fund K-12 schools and the remaining 11% will go to community colleges.
These increased tax rates were initially passed by voters in 2012 during a budget deficit, and were extended by voters in 2016.
Each year, the high-income tax rates bring in between $5 billion and $15 billion for the state, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. The revenue has ranged year to year depending on earnings from the stock market and other outside factors. For those who earn over $1 million, that tax has been on top of another existing 1% tax that goes toward mental health services.
David Goldberg, the president of the California Teachers Association, which supports the proposition, told CalMatters that if the measure doesn’t pass, about 50,000 teachers could be laid off.
The ballot measure also has support from the National Education Association and the California School Employees Association. The opposition includes the California Taxpayers Association, the Family Business Association of California and the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce.
While Prop. 3 appears to be gliding toward a win, polls are showing that Proposition 40, the so-called billionaire tax, is on track for failure. That measure would impose a new, one-time 5% tax on the financial assets of anyone who is worth $1 billion or more. If passed, 90% of the money would go toward funding healthcare to make up for an estimated $30 billion California will lose every year for Medicaid after Congress cut funding. Another 10 % would go to public education, food assistance and administration of the tax.
Prop. 40 has seen support drop in recent weeks as billionaire-funded opposition efforts ramped up. The Public Policy Institute of California released a poll Tuesday that found the measure only has 46% of voters in favor of the billionaire tax. Another poll from SurveyUSA also found that only 44% of voters are in support.
The No on Prop. 40 campaign has been primarily bankrolled by a political action committee called Building a Better California that was formed this year, largely focused on blocking the measure, according to state finance disclosures. With contributors like Google co-founder Sergey Brin, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison and billionaire investor John Doerr, the group has raised over $333 million, mostly going toward opposing Prop. 40 and supporting propositions 41 and 42, which would nullify Prop. 40, making it one of the highest-funded ballot initiative efforts in California history.
Proposition 41 would require audits of special statewide taxes and prohibit certain types of new taxes, and Proposition 42, which is endorsed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democrats, would block new taxes on the ownership of most financial assets, and would block new state taxes that apply retroactively to taxpayer conduct.
The Institute of Governmental Studies poll released Thursday surveyed 2,787 registered voters, of which 1,477 had either already voted in the midterm election or were considered likely to vote. It was conducted online in English and Spanish from Oct. 19 through Oct. 25, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Photo credit: City of Temple City – Government/Facebook
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Tags: ballot measures, california, Income Taxes, Taxes
