Bernie Sanders formally kicks off California wealth tax campaign

Populist Sen. Bernie Sanders officially launched his campaign to put a billionaires tax on the November ballot when he took the stage at a prominent Los Angeles venue on Wednesday, framing the proposal as something bigger than a debate about economics and tax policies.

“The billionaire class no longer sees itself as part of American society. They see themselves as something separate and distinct, like the oligarchs,” he told about 2,000 people at the Wiltern. The independent senator from Vermont compared them to ancient kings, queens and tsars who believed they had a divine right to rule.

These billionaires “have created giant businesses with revolutionary technologies like artificial intelligence and robotics that are literally changing the face of the Earth,” he said, “and they’re saying to you and everyone in America, who do you think you’re telling us that we – the ruling elite, the millionaires, the billionaires, the richest people in the world – are telling us what we can and can’t do?”

Sanders said California voters could show billionaires that “we live in a democratic society where the people have some power.”

The senator supports a labor union’s proposal to impose a one-time 5% tax on the assets of California billionaires and their trusts to offset federal health care funding cuts made by the Trump administration. Supporters of the controversial effort began collecting voter signatures earlier this year to put the measure on the November ballot. Sanders has previously supported the proposal on social media and in public statements, saying he would seek to create a national version of the wealth tax.

But Wednesday’s event, which lasted more than two hours and featured an extended performance by Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, was framed as the official launch of the campaign.

“While some people are free to choose between five-star restaurants, others choose which dumpster will provide their next meal,” Morello said. “While some are free to choose between penthouse suites, others are free to choose which gutter to stick their heads in.”

The guitarist’s comments came in the middle of a set that included Rage’s protest song “Killing in the Name” and Bruce Springsteen’s social justice song “The Ghost of Tom Joad.”

“The people who changed the world in progressive, radical and even revolutionary ways had no more money, power, courage, intelligence or creativity than anyone else here tonight,” Morello said.

Workers loitering outside the Wiltern, a historic Art Deco venue, were being paid $10 per signature they collected to help qualify the proposal for the November ballot. Inside, attendees heard from labor leaders, health care workers and others whose lives have been affected by federal funding cuts to health care.

Lisandro Preza said he spoke not only as the leader of Unite Here Local 11, which represents more than 32,000 hospitality workers, but also as someone who has AIDS and recently lost his medical insurance.

“For me, this fight is very personal. The thought of going to the emergency room without health insurance is terrifying,” he said. “The injection I administer costs about $10,000 a month. This vaccine keeps my disease under control. Without it, my health and life are at risk, and I’m not alone. Millions of Americans face the same situation after massive cuts to federal health care pushed our hospitals to the brink of collapse.”

Punctuating his remarks with historical statistics on wealth in the United States and anecdotes about billionaires buying up scores of yachts and planes, Sanders linked impending cuts to health care to broader problems such as rising income and wealth inequality; consolidation of corporate ownership, including media organizations; falling workers’ wages despite rising productivity; and threats to the job market from artificial intelligence and automation. He said that all these problems were caused by the greed of the country’s richest residents.

“It’s never enough for these people,” he said. “They are increasingly committed to accumulating wealth and power… no matter how many low-income and working-class people will die because they no longer have health insurance.”

“Shame! Shame!” the audience screamed.

In addition to the wealth tax event, Sanders also plans to use his time in California to meet with tech leaders and speak with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) at Stanford University on Friday about the effects of artificial intelligence and automation on American workers.

Millions of California voters deeply support the Vermont senator, who won the state’s 2020 Democratic presidential primary by eight points over Joe Biden and narrowly lost the 2016 Democratic primary to Hillary Clinton.

Sanders was the first presidential candidate to vote in the presidential election for 30-year-old Elle Parker.

“It inspired me,” said the podcaster, who lives in East Hollywood. “I love the way you use your words to inspire us all.”

Supporters have proposed a wealth tax to offset massive federal funding cuts to health care that Trump signed into law last year. The California Budget and Policy Center estimates that unless a new funding source is found, as many as 3.4 million Californians could lose Medi-Cal coverage, rural hospitals could close and other health services would be disrupted.

But the tax proposal is controversial and is creating a significant divide among the state’s Democrats over concerns it would lead to an exodus of the state’s wealthy, the main source of revenue that supports California’s volatile budget.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who is among a dozen candidates vying to replace the outgoing governor, are among the Democrats who oppose it.

Mahan argued that the proposal already harms the state’s finances by diverting economic investment and tax revenues from California to tax-friendly environments.

“We need solid ideas, not just nice-sounding political proposals,” he said. “The answer is to close the federal tax loopholes that the ultra-wealthy use to avoid paying their fair share, and use those funds to pay down our debt, rebuild our infrastructure, and protect our most vulnerable families from skyrocketing health premiums. The only winners of this proposal are the workers and taxpayers of Florida and Texas, who would take our jobs and benefit from the capital and tax revenue California is losing.”

A group affiliated with the governor plans to run digital ads opposing the proposal, with Newsom joining other politicians on both sides of the aisle. first reported by the New York Times.

The proposal drew a more expected and concerted response from conservatives and business leaders in the state, who have initiated ballot measures that could defeat some, but not all, of the proposed wealth tax. This depends on which measures, if any, are eligible for a ballot, namely the number of votes each receives compared to the labor effort in November.

Silicon Valley billionaires, particularly PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and venture capitalist David Sacks — both big supporters of Trump — have already announced they are leaving California because of those efforts.

Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Round Table, added that the wealth tax, if approved, would destroy the state’s innovation economy, destabilize tax revenues and ultimately cause all Californians to pay higher taxes.

“Let’s be clear; this $100 billion tax increase isn’t just a blow to California’s most successful entrepreneurs; it’s a tax no one can afford because it undermines the entire economic ecosystem that supports jobs, investments, wages and public services for ordinary Californians,” he said. “The cost doesn’t go away when high-income earners leave; the cost is passed on to everyone through fewer jobs, less investment and a weaker tax base; it’s a recipe for new, higher taxes for everyone.”