Tom Steyer runs for California governor on class traitor platform: ‘I’m the billionaire who wants to tax other billionaires’ |
Tom Steyer runs for California governor on class traitor platform: ‘I’m the billionaire who wants to tax other billionaires’
Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer is selling himself as a class traitor in his bid for California governor.
The Democrat with a personal fortune estimated at $2.4 billion wants wealthy people and corporations to pay higher taxes. He’s endorsed by a progressive advocacy group that believes billionaires shouldn’t exist. He founded one of the world’s largest hedge funds yet he’s the candidate taking the heaviest hits from business groups.
“I’m the billionaire who wants to tax other billionaires,” he’s fond of saying, though he’s given only tenuous backing to a billionaires’ tax proposal likely to appear before California voters in November.
Steyer has long leaned into the contradictions between his business success and political views. While his hedge fund invested in fossil fuels, Steyer spent millions to protect a California law aimed at curbing planet-warming emissions. As a presidential candidate in 2019 vying to succeed President Donald Trump, another rich man, Steyer championed eliminating corporate money from politics.
“I’m not one of the people who begrudges people’s success,” Steyer told The Associated Press, referring to businesspeople who become wealthy in California. “If you’re going to come here and build a company and make a ton of money, great.”
“But you’re part of a system — you’re depending on a system built by, basically, poor people,” he continued. “If you aren’t willing to pay your fair share, I feel like you’re spitting on those people.”
His stances, often unpopular with other billionaires, have earned him staunch support from some and persistent skepticism from others. Despite his vast wealth, progressive supporters perceive him as “one of the good ones” who will stand up to monied interests. But critics in both parties view him as disingenuous and making unrealistic promises to appeal to voters. Democratic rivals........