Democrats · San Francisco · California · Cuba · Fortune Technology
San Francisco Democrats break with their party over the billionaire tax—and reveal how deeply Prop 40 has split the left
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Nothing has the Democratic Party more split than taxing billionaires.
Key facts
- The San Francisco Democratic Party voted 17–4 to oppose Proposition 40—with five members abstaining, five members absent, and one member with no endorsement
- The Prop 40 vote became the only statewide ballot proposition on the group’s agenda—and it came back 17–4
- Proposition 40 would impose a one-time tax of 5% on the net worth of people who were California residents on Jan. 1, 2026, with more than $1 billion in assets
- About 200 billionaires would be affected by this proposal—and they hold over $2 trillion in total assets
Summary
The San Francisco Democratic Party voted 17–4 to oppose Proposition 40—with five members abstaining, five members absent, and one member with no endorsement. California already depends heavily on wealthy residents for tax revenue, and a tax that encourages a portion of them to leave could undermine the state’s existing revenue base—and prove especially problematic in San Francisco, where the technology industry has produced a large concentration of founders, investors, and executives whose wealth has amassed in stock rather than cash. “A unique feature of these 10b startups is that even if they raise a billion, little, if any of that money goes to the founders, who are now worth billions of dollars overnight,” Mark Cuban wrote on X regarding how the billionaire tax would affect startups in California. Proposition 40 would impose a one-time tax of 5% on the net worth of people who were California residents on Jan.
“This temporary increase in state tax collections would be spread across several years.