Make Your Voice Heard on Capitol Hill
‘Billionaire Tax’ Gets No Votes from Both Becerra and Hilton in Latest CNN Debate before November Elections
“This is not a way to do tax policy,” Becerra Says
In the first and only debate between the two leading candidates in the California governors’ race, Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton found the one issue they both agreed on was a “no vote” on Prop. 40, the so-called “Billionaire’s Tax.”
The CNN-televised debate displayed clashes over homelessness, taxes, housing, gas prices, immigration, California’s high cost of living, and the Trump Administration’s policies, but when it came to taxing billionaires with a one-time tax, both candidates agreed it was a bridge too far.
While Hilton argued the state needed a major change in direction, Becerra repeatedly linked his opponent to Trump’s harmful policies.
The debate came days before California voters began receiving mail-in ballots for the November 3 election.
The rare moment of agreement came about 34 minutes into the debate, when CNN moderator Jake Tapper asked about the ballot measure, Proposition 40, called “The Billionaire’s Tax,” a one-time 5% charge on billionaire assets in the state.
When asked, Becerra said he agrees with “so many Californians who think billionaires haven’t paid their fair share, because they haven’t, but this is not the way to do tax policy, you don’t have a policy where it’s a one-time tax that isn’t predictable and sustainable.”
Becerra added that, “We need a tax policy that is fair and can sustain us going forward.”
When Tapper asked Hilton about the Wealth Tax, or Savings Penalty Tax, ballot measure, he said: “I agree we can’t drive more tax revenue out of our state, we need that money here and this initiative would drive out tax funds.”
Hilton added that the “priority has to be on working people, but we actually we need to create jobs and that we reduce taxes for people who are struggling.”
Hilton cited the fact that if a resident earns $70,000, they are “paying 9.3%, that’s higher than the top rate in most states.”
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