“It is essential that we show the American people where we stand,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen. “If Trump vetoes it, it will just show people that he’s on the side of billionaires.”
US Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) speaks at a rally dubbed “Ballots Over Billionaires” at The Novo on October 5, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Julia Conley
Nov 05, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
With tech mogul Elon Musk pouring nearly half a billion dollars into the midterm elections and just 20 individuals spending over $2 billion in an effort to elect Republicans who would continue President Donald Trump’s corporate-friendly MAGA agenda, the results—including at least seven US Senate seats, 30 US House seats, and five governorships taken over by Democrats—sent a resounding message to GOP megadonors.
But economic justice advocates on Thursday said the Democratic Party must not stop there, demanding that the party’s new majorities take immediate action after the new Congress is sworn in in January to pass a federal wealth tax—the kind that was central to campaigns including those of Sens.-elect Troy Jackson (D-Maine), James Talarico (D-Texas), and Abdul El-Sayed (D-Mich.)..
‘Obscene’: Billionaire Funders Allowed California Wealth Tax Foes to Outspend Proponents 250 to 1
Sanders: Billionaires Fighting Prop 40 Would ‘Rather Poor Kids With Cancer Die Than Pay a Little More in Taxes’
“This election was a referendum on who has control over our democracy and our economy,” said Meghan Schneider, senior spokesperson for Tax the Greedy Billionaires. “The ultrawealthy funneled billions of dollars into state and federal races to manipulate public opinion and buy influence, to further enrich themselves. From Michigan to Texas, voters across the political spectrum rallied against the billionaires and the cronies they bankrolled.”
By electing candidates including El-Sayed, Talarico and Sen.-elect Peggy Flanagan (D-Minn.), said Schneider, voters sent a clear message: “We want leaders who will improve the lives of working people, not billionaires.”
While billionaire opponents of California’s proposed wealth tax, which would have established a one-time 5% tax on the state’s richest residents, succeeded in crushing the proposal after spending more than $379 million against it, experts are expecting Democrats in Congress to consider bills, including one proposed by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
“From Michigan to Texas, voters across the political spectrum rallied against the billionaires and the cronies they bankrolled.”
The senator has called for a graduated surtax on people earning more than $1 million per year. Those who earn $1 million-$2 million would be taxed 5% and households earning more than $5 million would be taxed 12%, while the capital gains top tax rate would be raised from 23.8% to 35.8%.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has also joined Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in proposing the Make Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share Act, which would establish an annual 5% tax on households whose net worth is more than $1 billion.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has proposed quadrupling a tax on stock buybacks, while Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), set to become the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said in a post-election statement Wednesday that “the committee will redouble its efforts to ensure billionaires pay their fair share and hold tax cheats accountable.”
Van Hollen, who has been floated as a potential 2028 presidential contender or a successor to Schumer—but has said he doesn’t plan to run for the latter—told Politico Thursday that even if President Donald Trump vetoes a potential billionaires’ tax, putting forward the proposal would show the American public whose side the Democrats are on ahead of 2028.
“It is essential that we show the American people where we stand,” said Van Hollen. “If Trump vetoes it, it will just show people that he’s on the side of billionaires.”
Schneider said that with the artificial intelligence boom and looming initial public offerings by wealthy corporations “already accelerating historic wealth inequality and worsening the affordability crisis, the need to act decisively and quickly at the national level is dire.”
“Leaders in the new Congress must deliver on their promises to put working people over billionaires,” she said, “and introduce a national wealth tax within the first 100 days of the new Congress.”
California Billionaire Tax Headed for Defeat After $300+ Million Ad Blitz by Superrich
“If you spend enough on ads, you really can get people to vote against their own interests,” lamented one observer.
Supporters of the proposed California Billionaire Tax—officially Proposition 40—rally in Los Angeles on February 18, 2026.
(Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
“If you spend enough on ads, you really can get people to vote against their own interests,” lamented one observer.
Supporters of the proposed California Billionaire Tax—officially Proposition 40—rally in Los Angeles on February 18, 2026.
(Photo by Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Brett Wilkins
Nov 04, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Proposition 40, the California proposal for a one-time 5% tax on the state’s billionaires, appeared headed for defeat Wednesday after a spending blitz exceeding $300 million by some of the state’s wealthiest residents helped turn a potentially landmark effort to make plutocrats pay their fare share into one of the most expensive ballot fights in state history.
With around 60% of expected votes counted, Prop 40—also known as the California Billionaire Tax—was losing by a 56% to 44% margin, according to CalMatters and The Associated Press, which had not yet projected the final outcome due to the significant number of uncounted ballots.
The measure, which is sponsored by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, would impose a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of California residents and trusts worth more than $1 billion. Affecting approximately 200 billionaires, Prop 40 would generate tens of billions of dollars to help fund healthcare, food assistance, and public education programs facing funding pressures, including cuts resulting from President Donald Trump’s attacks on Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and other social safety net lifelines.
Polling showed a majority of California voters—55%—supporting Prop 40 last December, buoyed by the backing of prominent national figures like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich.
In early 2026, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and other tech billionaires began pouring money into efforts to oppose the initiative and support competing ballot measures, Propositions 41 and 42, which were specifically designed to undermine or nullify Prop 40.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom also came out against Prop 40. Critics accused the potential 2028 presidential contender of trying to bamboozle voters with a plan for a national billionaire income tax, knowing that very rich people actually have relatively little income when compared with their investments and other assets that would be subject to taxation under Prop 40.
By June, Prop 40 was polling under 50%. By October, with a deluge of anti-Prop 40 ads flooding the airwaves and internet, support barely topped 40%.
According to CalMatters, billionaires and business interests spent $316.7 million on the campaign against Prop 40, including spending on Props 41 and 42. Most of that money was raised by Building a Better California, a political action committee funded by prominent tech executives, venture capitalists, and business leaders.
As Common Dreams reported Tuesday, opponents of Prop 40 outspent supporters of the measure by a staggering 250: 1 margin.
“We won’t need much analysis to identify what swayed voters,” Yousef Baig wrote for CalMatters. “The playbook for defeating the tax was simple: Stoke economic fears and confuse Californians.”
Baig continued:
Prop 40’s authors may have even doomed their own campaign with an amendment provision that opponents seized on. If a supermajority—two-thirds of the Legislature—wanted to retool the tax, they could, so long as “the statute is consistent with and furthers the purposes of the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act.” Opponents created ads proclaiming politicians would use this clause to come after our retirement accounts.
It lit up social media. Some Californians are so cynical that they figured 7 out of 10 state lawmakers would vote to extend a billionaire tax to people with fewer zeros and commas invested. It also made one of Brin’s countermeasures, Proposition 42, an easy sell. It would bar taxes on personal property and its passage would make it almost impossible to enact a similar tax in the future. It was ahead in the count Wednesday morning.
“If there is a glimmer of hope, it is that Brin and other billionaires stepped into the sunshine,” Baig said. “The record spending and attack ads and political gamesmanship was done out in the open. Many Californians took notice, whether they backed Prop 40 or not.”
“The state’s billionaires may have avoided this wealth tax,” he added, “but voters won’t forget how some of the richest people on the planet behaved when fairness was on the ballot.”
Nov 04, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Proposition 40, the California proposal for a one-time 5% tax on the state’s billionaires, appeared headed for defeat Wednesday after a spending blitz exceeding $300 million by some of the state’s wealthiest residents helped turn a potentially landmark effort to make plutocrats pay their fare share into one of the most expensive ballot fights in state history.
With around 60% of expected votes counted, Prop 40—also known as the California Billionaire Tax—was losing by a 56% to 44% margin, according to CalMatters and The Associated Press, which had not yet projected the final outcome due to the significant number of uncounted ballots.
The measure, which is sponsored by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, would impose a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of California residents and trusts worth more than $1 billion. Affecting approximately 200 billionaires, Prop 40 would generate tens of billions of dollars to help fund healthcare, food assistance, and public education programs facing funding pressures, including cuts resulting from President Donald Trump’s attacks on Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and other social safety net lifelines.
Polling showed a majority of California voters—55%—supporting Prop 40 last December, buoyed by the backing of prominent national figures like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich.
In early 2026, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and other tech billionaires began pouring money into efforts to oppose the initiative and support competing ballot measures, Propositions 41 and 42, which were specifically designed to undermine or nullify Prop 40.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom also came out against Prop 40. Critics accused the potential 2028 presidential contender of trying to bamboozle voters with a plan for a national billionaire income tax, knowing that very rich people actually have relatively little income when compared with their investments and other assets that would be subject to taxation under Prop 40.
By June, Prop 40 was polling under 50%. By October, with a deluge of anti-Prop 40 ads flooding the airwaves and internet, support barely topped 40%.
According to CalMatters, billionaires and business interests spent $316.7 million on the campaign against Prop 40, including spending on Props 41 and 42. Most of that money was raised by Building a Better California, a political action committee funded by prominent tech executives, venture capitalists, and business leaders.
As Common Dreams reported Tuesday, opponents of Prop 40 outspent supporters of the measure by a staggering 250: 1 margin.
“We won’t need much analysis to identify what swayed voters,” Yousef Baig wrote for CalMatters. “The playbook for defeating the tax was simple: Stoke economic fears and confuse Californians.”
Baig continued:
Prop 40’s authors may have even doomed their own campaign with an amendment provision that opponents seized on. If a supermajority—two-thirds of the Legislature—wanted to retool the tax, they could, so long as “the statute is consistent with and furthers the purposes of the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act.” Opponents created ads proclaiming politicians would use this clause to come after our retirement accounts.
It lit up social media. Some Californians are so cynical that they figured 7 out of 10 state lawmakers would vote to extend a billionaire tax to people with fewer zeros and commas invested. It also made one of Brin’s countermeasures, Proposition 42, an easy sell. It would bar taxes on personal property and its passage would make it almost impossible to enact a similar tax in the future. It was ahead in the count Wednesday morning.
“If there is a glimmer of hope, it is that Brin and other billionaires stepped into the sunshine,” Baig said. “The record spending and attack ads and political gamesmanship was done out in the open. Many Californians took notice, whether they backed Prop 40 or not.”
“The state’s billionaires may have avoided this wealth tax,” he added, “but voters won’t forget how some of the richest people on the planet behaved when fairness was on the ballot.”
‘Obscene’: Billionaire Funders Allowed California Wealth Tax Foes to Outspend Proponents 250 to 1
“California, send these oligarchs a message: Democracy is not for sale,” said US Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Signs sit on seats at the “Ballots Over Billionaires” rally on October 5, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
(Photo by Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Nov 03, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Foes of a California ballot initiative to establish a one-time 5% wealth tax on the state’s billionaires have spent vastly more on advertising than proponents—and polls show that money may be having an impact.
A Monday report in The Washington Post estimated that opponents of California’s Proposition 40, led by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, have spent 250 times more than those in favor of the tax.
In total, the Post found, tax opponents have raised more than $379 million to fight the wealth tax, while proponents of the initiative have raised just $35 million.
The spending disparity in advertising is even greater, as tax opponents have spent $148 million on ads, while proponents have spent a mere $572,000.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin has been leading the charge against the measure, having donated more than $100 million to ensure its defeat.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Kleiner Perkins chairman John Doerr, meanwhile, have both chipped in $40 million each to help defeat the proposal.
The spending blitz comes as polling has shown a steady erosion of support for Proposition 40.
As noted by Gizmodo on Monday, two recent surveys—one from the Public Policy Institute of California and another from the University of California Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies—show that opposition to the measure now outpaces support. For several months prior, polls showed a majority of California voters in favor of the wealth tax.
David McCuan, a political scientist at Sonoma State University, told the Post that opponents of the tax appear to have held their fire until late in the campaign, when most voters have traditionally started to really pay attention to ballot initiatives.
“The strategy has been to blanket the airwaves in weeks three and four,” McCuan said, “and carpet-bomb the airwaves in the last two weeks.”
McCuan also estimated that the battle over Proposition 40 “will be the most expensive ballot measure in the history of the world.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) decried the billionaire campaign to defeat the tax in a Monday social media post.
“Oligarchs in California spent $379 million against Prop 40, a 5% billionaire wealth tax, outraising supporters 250-1,” Sanders wrote. “They’d rather poor kids die than pay a little more in taxes. Obscene. California, send these oligarchs a message: Democracy is not for sale. Vote for Prop 40.”
Economist Gabriel Zucman, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said in an interview with NPR published Monday that the wealth tax in California was part of a broader fight to take away power from the ultrarich, who have seen their wealth grow by leaps and bounds over the last several decades.
“If California says, ‘We can tax billionaires. We can tax the wealthiest, most powerful people in the world,’” Zucman explained, “it will be the beginning of not only a broader US-wide movement, ultimately paving the way for a federal wealth tax—but I think it will be the beginning of an international movement.”
“California, send these oligarchs a message: Democracy is not for sale,” said US Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Signs sit on seats at the “Ballots Over Billionaires” rally on October 5, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
(Photo by Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Nov 03, 2026
COMMON DREAMS
Foes of a California ballot initiative to establish a one-time 5% wealth tax on the state’s billionaires have spent vastly more on advertising than proponents—and polls show that money may be having an impact.
A Monday report in The Washington Post estimated that opponents of California’s Proposition 40, led by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, have spent 250 times more than those in favor of the tax.
In total, the Post found, tax opponents have raised more than $379 million to fight the wealth tax, while proponents of the initiative have raised just $35 million.
The spending disparity in advertising is even greater, as tax opponents have spent $148 million on ads, while proponents have spent a mere $572,000.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin has been leading the charge against the measure, having donated more than $100 million to ensure its defeat.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Kleiner Perkins chairman John Doerr, meanwhile, have both chipped in $40 million each to help defeat the proposal.
The spending blitz comes as polling has shown a steady erosion of support for Proposition 40.
As noted by Gizmodo on Monday, two recent surveys—one from the Public Policy Institute of California and another from the University of California Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies—show that opposition to the measure now outpaces support. For several months prior, polls showed a majority of California voters in favor of the wealth tax.
David McCuan, a political scientist at Sonoma State University, told the Post that opponents of the tax appear to have held their fire until late in the campaign, when most voters have traditionally started to really pay attention to ballot initiatives.
“The strategy has been to blanket the airwaves in weeks three and four,” McCuan said, “and carpet-bomb the airwaves in the last two weeks.”
McCuan also estimated that the battle over Proposition 40 “will be the most expensive ballot measure in the history of the world.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) decried the billionaire campaign to defeat the tax in a Monday social media post.
“Oligarchs in California spent $379 million against Prop 40, a 5% billionaire wealth tax, outraising supporters 250-1,” Sanders wrote. “They’d rather poor kids die than pay a little more in taxes. Obscene. California, send these oligarchs a message: Democracy is not for sale. Vote for Prop 40.”
Economist Gabriel Zucman, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said in an interview with NPR published Monday that the wealth tax in California was part of a broader fight to take away power from the ultrarich, who have seen their wealth grow by leaps and bounds over the last several decades.
“If California says, ‘We can tax billionaires. We can tax the wealthiest, most powerful people in the world,’” Zucman explained, “it will be the beginning of not only a broader US-wide movement, ultimately paving the way for a federal wealth tax—but I think it will be the beginning of an international movement.”
