Election results from a series of state ballot initiatives on tax issues suggest that the wave of Democratic victories may be more about gas prices and anti-Trump sentiment than any overwhelming voter enthusiasm for "tax the rich" policies. The center-ring tax ballot initiative of the election was a California measure that would have imposed a "one time"—yeah, right—5 percent tax on individuals and trusts with more than $1 billion in assets.
Championed by French U.C. Berkeley economists Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez and by the president of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, Dave Regan, it was opposed by California-based tech billionaires, who spent hundreds of millions to defeat it.
Zucman conceded on Wednesday that the initiative had been defeated and said he would try to get it done nationally by an act of Congress. "It’s now one of the best environments to pass a billionaire tax in Washington in decades," he said in a post on X, adding that Rep.