The Billionaire Ploys Club

The economic divide is the issue that underpins many other problems in America. That said, I’m not sure a one-time, one-state wealth tax is a reasonable solution to the problem, but it’s worth noting how billionaires are banding together to fight the California proposal. The deep pockets in play make one wonder how any proposals that aim to at least slightly level the playing field could get passed. “Every Tuesday for the last few months, two dozen of the world’s richest people or their advisers hop onto a conference call and plan for war. The war is against a proposed tax, but not just any tax. It is against a ‘wealth tax’ on California billionaires, one that Silicon Valley’s most affluent see as an existential threat that could usher in a new way of attacking them. So in confidential memos, WhatsApp and Signal chats and conference calls, they are banding together to battle back. The calls are organized by Building a Better California.” (Ironically, Building a Better California is a nonprofit.) NYT (Gift Article): Inside the Billionaires’ War Against California’s Proposed Wealth Tax.

+ “Since John D. Rockefeller handed out dimes, the world’s richest have given away their money in very different ways. Now they are bypassing charity—and writing a new social contract.” WSJ (Gift Article): Billionaires Stave off the Pitchforks With Payouts to One Kid at a Time. (The kids get a few bucks, and when the donations are made in stock, millions of them will have an interest in your company’s stock price performing well. Hand out dimes. Make quarters.)