Tom Steyer’s intentions are righteous, but his ideas don’t add up On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to speak to gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer about his campaign. Steyer is a billionaire environmentalist with a long history of political activity. In 2020, he sought the Democratic presidential nomination. He spent millions during President Trump’s first term on an ad campaign to have Trump impeached. As a citizen, he has held fundraisers for Democratic candidates such as President Obama and Hillary Clinton and championed numerous environmental policies. Today, he’s among the top polling candidates to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, offering a progressive message to Californians. Steyer is running heavily on making corporations “pay their fair share” and has publicly stated he would like to hold a special election to modify Proposition 13, the landmark initiative that caps property tax increases. He has proposed modifying Prop. 13 to allow the state to assess commercial property taxes based on market value. When I asked him why he thought these tax hikes wouldn’t increase prices and slow economic growth, Steyer clarified that the changes would distinguish between large and small businesses. He argued that charging people fairly for commercial real estate doesn’t seem like an unfair thing to do. He also claimed that a 1% property tax is not dramatically different from what others charge and that it wouldn’t be a big drag on business. He called the current system an “actual honest to God tax loophole” and insisted it’s a “completely just thing to do.” Unfortunately, that was the extent of his answer. Typically, increasing the cost of doing business, as such a modification would undoubtedly cause, leads to higher prices and slower economic growth.#california #gavin_newsom #tom_steyer #prop_13 #rent_control
