Ambulances arrive at UCSF Parnassus Hospital in 2025. Prop 40, the billionaires tax, is a prime example of a seemingly progressive-sounding policy solution — in this case, for healthcare — that ultimately just perpetuates the status quo, Katie Porter says.

For too many years, working families across California have been shortchanged in an economy shaped by corporate elites and the ultra-wealthy. 

Worker productivity has climbed for decades while paychecks haven’t kept pace. CEOs, meanwhile, are pulling in hundreds of times what their employees make. California families are getting squeezed by healthcare costs rising faster than their wages. Our state and federal policies often favor billionaires over everyone else, leaving ordinary Californians to pick up the tab.

Creating a fairer California means calling out these deep systemic inequalities. We must insist that wealthy Californians pay their fair share of taxes. But holding that fundamental belief does not require us to rubber-stamp every poorly drafted policy that claims to champion tax fairness — especially one that will fail to deliver on its promises and ultimately will leave our state worse off.

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Proposition 40 is a prime example of a seemingly progressive-sounding policy solution that ultimately just perpetuates the status quo. It does nothing to reform our healthcare system and would send billions in tax dollars to private health insurance companies and corporations that........

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