Can Tom Steyer become California’s first billionaire, populist governor? |
Gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer addresses the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco on Feb. 21. His campaign focus is on taxing billionaires and breaking up PG&E.
Using millions of dollars of his own fortune, former hedge fund manager and billionaire Tom Steyer has catapulted himself to the top tier of California’s crowded gubernatorial race on a populist message that going after billionaires is the way to help balance the state’s budget deficit.
“I want you to think of me as the billionaire who’s going to raise money from billionaires,” Steyer said in one of the campaign ads that have blanketed the airwaves in recent months.
When I sat down with Steyer last week in Sacramento at the Citizen Hotel in a small conference room well stocked with Diet Cokes and ice, I asked him about the proposed ballot measure that would impose a 5% wealth tax on billionaires like him to fund state health care programs, education and food assistance.
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“We have a real revenue shortfall,” Steyer, who wore black jeans, white Nike Air Force One sneakers, a maroon zip-up sweater and a navy blazer, told me. “This is designed to meet that revenue shortfall.”
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I asked if it surprised him that prominent Democrats like Gov. Gavin Newsom came out against the tax due to the widely held belief that it will drive billionaires out of the state, ultimately worsening California’s tax revenue picture.
“No. Look, I think what other people are talking about … is the second-order impacts of........