California Dems Buck Newsom With Vote To Endorse Billionaire Wealth Tax

He backed Proposition 3, which would permanently extend an existing high-earner income-tax surcharge for education funding, but pointedly declined to support the billionaire levy.

The resolutions committee ignored both men.

That puts the party’s rank-and-file activists in direct conflict with the sitting governor and the candidate seeking to succeed him.

In a state where Democrats control every major office and legislative chamber, the split is unusually stark.

Newsom and Becerra are not fighting Republicans; they are fighting their own party’s left wing.

Proposition 40’s chief advocate is Dave Regan, president of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West.

Supporters cast the tax as essential to replace what they claim are roughly $100 billion in federal healthcare cuts under the Trump administration.

They project the levy would raise an estimated $100 billion from California’s tiny cohort of billionaires.

Outside endorsements have come from Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Ro Khanna, AFSCME California, and the Teamsters California.

The California State Council of Laborers opposes the measure.