"A battle is brewing in California over a plan to tax billionaires with tech titans divided over whether they should pay up, or flee the state. Under a tax proposal that could be put to voters this November, any California resident worth more than $1bn would have to pay a one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the state."
"Several Silicon Valley figures have already threatened to leave California and take their business elsewhere. But Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia whose net worth is nearly $159bn, told Bloomberg Television this week that he is perfectly fine with it. We chose to live in Silicon Valley, Huang said. And whatever taxes I guess they would like to apply, so be it. This puts Huang in stark contrast with Google co-founder Larry Page, Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel."
"What remains undeniable is the underlying unfairness of the current system, Suzanne Jimenez, the chief of staff for SEIU-UHW, said in an email. Regular working people pay higher effective tax rates than the wealthiest Americans Asking those who have benefited most from the economy to contribute more particularly to stabilize health care systems under direct threat is a reasonable step."
A proposed one-off 5% tax would apply to California residents with net worth exceeding $1 billion to fund education, food assistance and healthcare programs. The measure would be retroactive to 1 January and give billionaires five years to pay. The initiative is led by the labor union SEIU-UHW and must collect 874,641 signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Some Silicon Valley figures have threatened to leave for tax-friendlier states; others, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, have said they will remain and accept the tax. Estimated one-time payments for named individuals would total billions.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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