Billionaire tax battle: California voters decide on Prop 40

Well, California voters are also deciding on more than a dozen ballot measures. Now, one that's been getting a lot of attention out there and money, Proposition 40, the so-called billionaire's tax. Heather Holmes, live tonight in the newsroom with more at what's at stake here. A lot of chatter about this one, Heather. Yeah, as you mentioned, and an awful lot of money, Mike. Proposition 40, when enacted, one time, 5% tax on taxpayers and trusts in excess of $1 billion. And that would hit some Silicon Valley tech founders really hard. So they have been spending hundreds of millions of dollars to try to stop it, making it the most expensive ballot fight. In state history, supporters, including union health care workers, say it would ensure that the ultra-rich would have cashed in, who have cashed in on the AI boom, would pay their fair share. Most of the revenue would go to help backfill recent federal cuts to health care. Now, Governor Gavin Newsom is among the many critics who have warned passage of the measure would drive jobs out of the state and wind up costing the state tax revenue. Opponents, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin, have spent an estimated $379 million to try to defeat this measure, including spending on two competing measures. Now, those groups have hit the airwaves with the last-minute blitz of ads, and Prop 40 has been sliding in the polls. Now, either of those two measures that I mentioned, they could block Prop 40 from passage. So if either Prop 41 or Prop 42 passes with more votes than Prop 40, then the billionaire tax will be nullified, even if Prop 40 has enough votes for passage. In this case, a simple majority. Prop 40 would only go into effect if it gets more votes than both. Countermeasures. So a lot for voters to kind of work through here, but as we mentioned, a lot at stake and a lot of money being spent on Prop 40.