redqueeninla ~ a musings locality

I’ve been asked about my feelings around the Billionaire’s Tax, aka Proposition 40.

It’s a shocker that CTA is against the proposal to levy a one-time tax on the state’s billionaires. It’s TheTeachers who’ve done such a good job explaining that the privatization efforts within the educational sector are bad for society, bad for your local school, bad for that pillar of democracy: education. Billionaires have had their sights on our public sector schools for decades now, besotted with the yarn that “choice” is the prerogative of everyone, especially the poor, and hence the canard that offering a choice of schooling in a repurposed mall without child-focused facilities or professional, regulated teachers or staff is a viable “alternative”. It isn’t. That’s union busting and it’s promulgating deprivation and lack of opportunity for your kid.

So, with having had these billionaire class warriors in our sights for quite some time now, and having the thrilling experience of witnessing TheTeachers do such an excellent job articulating the source of this threat, it’s a bit gobsmacking to suddenly find oneself on the opposite divide from TheTeachers. As the OG explainers of this real danger to and for the people, why should they suddenly be taking their eye from the ball like this?

Well, politically-prickly personalities notwithstanding, there’s this argument that Prop 40 doesn’t safeguard the distribution of education dollars as our budget has been setup structurally to support. That because everyone always comes first for the vulnerable kid’s vulnerable monies, and we setup things structurally to safeguard it, that this supposed end-run around the structured monies is a betrayal.

But CTA wants this argument both ways: because it is a one-time tax, it is criticized as not sustaining long-lasting funding. And the thing is, this being a one-time tax, expressly avoids undermining our taxation’s structural setup. In particular, it is because this tax is not destined for the general fund, that it works. The tax is targeted to backfill the gaping hole left by DJT’s HR1, that BigBadTerribleNoGoodUglyBill, sucking dry the welfare and social support dollars assisting our poorest kids.

This isn’t to say the education dollars are unimportant. And it isn’t to undermine them; it is to supplement the kid’s entitlement, not to supplant it.

And as to the fear mongering around the threat that they’ll just leave the state: to where? This state is overpopulated for a lot of inherent reasons: its weather is crystalline. Its politics are supportive for a common good. Its people are well-educated and the economy is well-anchored. If they didn’t flee NorEastern Massachusetts, they won’t flee California. There’ll be much mewling about the possibility; the evidence from numerous places suggest it will not pan out.

The bottom line is: clawing back this money unjustly detained in DC for the exclusive benefit of the class that unfairly reaps so much benefit from this essentially one-time seizure (which will cease when MAGA forfeits its triumvirate hold on government), is a justified reaction.

Now is not the time to blink. The ill-begotten gains of these billionaires should rightfully be clawed back to provide protections for the neediest among us, for those who have been unjustly and unceremoniously forsaken.

Vote YES on Proposition 40, the Billionaires Tax.

AND…. If you’re a “yes” on proposition 40, there’s a hefty benefit that accrues to you immediately. Vote yes on Prop 40 and you don’t have to spend a moment more thinking about two more propositions: Prop 41 and Prop 42. A “yes” on Prop 40 is a package deal of NO on Proposition 41 and 42. Both these bills have been put up by billionaires to undermine and derail Proposition 40. A yes-vote on Prop 40 is a three-fer: an instantaneous no-vote on both Prop 41 and Prop 42, by definition.  These are part and parcel of the same effort, the same initiative, the same backers. The ones working to defeat Prop 40, have installed Prop 41/42 to muddy the waters, confuse you, instill doubt and come up dry on Prop 40.

Don’t Let Them Do It. If you agree that Prop 40 should be invoked to backfill the HR1 monies that have been unjustly withheld, then you must vote NO on both Proposition 41 and Proposition 42 to ensure its passage. Pay no mind to the little man behind the curtain pretending there is reasonable argument for either of these propositions. They are there to drain your support and attention from Proposition 40: don’t let that happen.

Proposition 40 comes as a package deal: nearly ¼ of your proposition-thinking (3 of 14) is taken care of with one clear understanding: backfill the missing HR1 money, sustain our social welfare capacities, retain our structural support for funding education and pay no mind to the sniveling complaints of the beleaguered billionaires. They live and work in the Golden State because that’s where their well-trained engineering workforce cohabitates. We are the technology powerhouse because this is where that libertarian workforce comes to be educated and likes to live.

{YES on Prop 40 / NO on Prop 41 / No on Prop 42}.  A package deal to hold harmless what was stolen away.