A billionaire tax that US Senator Bernie Sanders and other progressives championed as an antidote to economic inequality and a potential model for the rest of the country was defeated in California, US media projected on Monday.
Proponents had estimated Prop 40 would raise US$100 billion in revenue, most of which would have been earmarked for healthcare programmes to offset federal funding cuts designed to pay for tax breaks enacted last year under President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”. Those tax breaks, largely benefiting wealthy individuals and corporate interests, passed with Republican-only support in the US Senate.
The failure of the billionaire tax marks a blow to the left wing of the Democratic Party, even as Democrats won decisive majorities in both houses of Congress in a sweeping midterm election rebuke of Trump and his policies.