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How Tech Companies Won Big in the Midterm Elections

By  |  November 14, 2022

By Eric J. Savitz, Barron’s. 

All but lost in last week’s torrent of election news was the surprising defeat of Proposition 30, a California measure that would have raised tax rates on the state’s millionaires to subsidize the purchase of electric cars, shore up the state’s charging infrastructure, and provide some extra cash for firefighting in a state at constant risk of firestorm.

You’d think Californians would have loved that idea. History proves that the Golden State’s electorate has no problem raising taxes. In 2012, voters approved another measure—also called Proposition 30—that boosted taxes on incomes over $250,000 a year to help fund schools. In 2004, voters backed Proposition 63, which slapped an extra 1% tax on incomes above $1 million to fund mental health services. In Palo Alto, where I live, voters last week backed a new city business tax by a margin of 2 to 1.

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