00:00The debate is raging over Proposition 40, the so-called billionaire tax in California,
00:04which would seize 5% of the wealth of anyone with assets worth a billion dollars or more.
00:10Over the weekend, billionaire Mark Cuban went at Congressman Ro Khanna, who represents Silicon
00:16Valley and who is one of the most prominent supporters of the billionaire tax. Cuban pointed
00:21out that many billionaires would simply leave the state if Proposition 40 passed because
00:25many of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley are only billionaires on paper. They own
00:30shares in their companies and they would have to sell their companies just to pay the tax.
00:34Khanna countered by saying that many of these billionaires take out loans to support their
00:39personal lifestyles and they borrow against the value of those assets so the government could
00:43just make them take out a loan to pay the tax. Cuban then replied that if that was the case,
00:48these companies would have massive liabilities as soon as they went public and he as an investor
00:52would make it a condition of investment that all of the founders and major shareholders would have
00:57to leave California for them to get any investment from him at all. Meanwhile, behind the scenes at
01:03the organization called Building a Better California, which was founded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin
01:08to fight the billionaire tax, there is a battle raging between former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and
01:14Brin himself. It's over a question of tactics. Schmidt is concerned that the organization has too much
01:21on its plate, that it's trying to do many things besides fight the billionaire tax, and his concern
01:26grew after the Democratic Party in California recently endorsed the billionaire tax at a convention.
01:32Brin is opposing the billionaire tax not just by fighting Proposition 40, but also by supporting
01:37two poison pill propositions, 41 and 42, which would instantly cancel out Proposition 40 if Proposition 40
01:44actually passes. It's all very complicated, and right now it's not clear that the billionaire tax will pass
01:49at all. It has a plurality of support, but it's still under 50% in the most recent Berkeley IGS
01:55poll.
01:56So where this goes as we start heading toward the election season is anyone's guess.
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