Posts tagged Billionaire Tax
Gavin Newsom’s race to block a billionaire tax
June 13, 2026 // The growing coalition is tightening pressure on SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan, whose wealth-tax crusade has roiled California politics for months, to pull the measure. The message to Regan is blunt: Back down now, or risk going into a costly ballot fight increasingly alone. “Dave Regan is seeing very plainly what he’ll be up against if he goes through with this,” said a consultant working to defeat the measure who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive dynamics. The union downplayed the mounting pushback, arguing it was not representative of the groups’ members.
Commentary: Two huge California unions clash over money, political clout this election season
June 12, 2026 // This year’s race for governor is one arena for that rivalry. Service Employees International Union, the parent of SEIU-UHW, is backing former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the leading Democrat. The CTA has supported billionaire Tom Steyer, who has repeatedly pledged to pursue one of the teachers’ holy grails, removing Prop. 13’s property tax limits on commercial property, which would generate more money for schools. The two unions also are at odds over details in the state budget, such as financing preschool programs. The state Senate’s version of the budget would shift preschool support into the Prop. 98 segment of the budget, thus freeing up money that could go to health care. CTA sees that as a raid on school funds.
CA Post Editorial Board: ‘Unite Here’ needs to unite, here, to make World Cup a success
June 8, 2026 // The union, which spent piles of cash on the recent primary elections, wants to exploit the World Cup to flex its political muscle. It’s top demand has nothing to do with its contract with the stadium, or with FIFA, but is rather just a complaint about immigration enforcement. The union wants employees to be able to walk off the job if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is operating at the venue. That’s an insane demand. Essentially, the union wants illegal immigrants to be able to work at SoFi — jobs Americans, want and deserve. The unions also wants its members to be able to skip work virtually at will, whenever they decide that ICE is some kind of threat.
S.F. begins to lay off 127 workers as Mayor Lurie takes ‘painful but necessary’ steps to close deficit
April 8, 2026 // Among the 18 departments affected by the layoffs are the departments of public health and economic and workforce development. The City Administrator’s Office and the Human Services Agency are also affected, as are civilian roles in the Police Department. It wasn’t immediately clear exactly how many jobs were being eliminated from every affected department. The layoffs are likely to further inflame tensions between Lurie and some of the city’s most dominant public-sector labor unions. He already had a major disagreement with those groups over Proposition D, a June ballot measure they are pushing to raise taxes on companies with highly-paid executives.
Commentary: California on the Cusp
April 2, 2026 // The top three Democratic gubernatorial candidates enjoy strong backing from organized labor, including the state’s all-powerful public-employee unions. If elected, it’s nearly certain they’ll follow the union playbook of more taxes and regulations for the next four or even eight years.
Opinion Aaron Withe: Why unions love the ‘Billionaire Tax’
March 12, 2026 // It has attracted a coalition of supporters — chief among them government employee unions. That might seem like an odd pairing, but the logic becomes clear once you trace where the money is supposed to go. Sanders’ legislation would redirect the projected revenue — $4.4 trillion over a decade — into an array of new federal spending programs, including direct cash payments, a federal salary floor for public school teachers and expanded Medicare benefits. Not coincidentally, pouring money into such programs means more federal employees, more union-eligible positions and more dues flowing into union bank accounts.