"A butter knife against a nuclear arsenal:" Tech billionaires vastly outspend wealth tax supporters – Los Angeles Times

“A butter knife against a nuclear arsenal:” Tech billionaires vastly outspend wealth tax supporters  Los Angeles Times

More than $351 million in political donations has been poured into a high-stakes contest about a proposed wealth tax on the November ballot, making it one of the most costly campaigns in California history. About 90% of the money is being spent to defeat a statewide initiative to impose a new tax on the assets of billionaires, a multifaceted opposition effort bankrolled primarily by ultra-rich Californians being targeted by a measure that supporters call an economic reckoning. The billionaire tax, Proposition 40, would levy a one-time, 5% tax on many assets of California billionaires who lived in the state as of Jan. 1. Millions of dollars continue to flow into the campaigns of three intertwined ballot initiatives at the center of the debate: Proposition 40, and Propositions 41 and Proposition 42, which would neuter the Proposition 40 through strategic, esoteric tax law changes.

"The pro-40 campaign picked a fight and then came to that fight with a butter knife against a nuclear arsenal," said GOP strategist Rob Stutzman, who is not involved in any of the wealth-tax-related ballot measures. "Because they're so well funded, in today's multifaceted media world, they are able to show up everywhere from network TV to inside video games. That is a very, very large advantage few campaigns ever get to have." But, Stutzman warned, money