Billionaires Pay Lower Tax Rates Than Their Assistants

Emmanuel Saez

On this episode of Agitation Nation, host David Fenton speaks with UC Berkeley economist Emmanuel Saez, co-author of California's Proposition 40 — the first billionaire wealth tax on a U.S. state ballot. Saez explains how Prop 40 would tax California's roughly 250 billionaires 1% annually for five years, raising $20 billion to replace federal Medicaid cuts. The conversation covers why billionaires like Google's Sergey Brin are funding opposition, why Governor Gavin Newsom opposes the measure despite later endorsing a national wealth tax, and how wealth inequality compares to the first Gilded Age.