Professor Shanske Comments on State 'Billionaire Tax' Plan He Co-Authored

Professor Darien Shanske collaborated on a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed piece and spoke to the San Jose Mercury News about the proposed California “billionaire’s tax” ballot initiative that he helped draft.

The May 9 Chronicle op-ed offered differing takes on the proposal, which would levy a one-time, 5% tax on the state’s billionaires to counteract federal cuts in funding for health care. Shanske argued in favor of the tax proposal, which supporters say has gained enough signatures to reach the November ballot. UC Berkeley economics Professor Enrico Moretti argued against it.

The April 29 Mercury News story addressed another campaign that would guard personal property,  including retirement and savings accounts, from future or retroactive taxes. Its backers say it too has qualified for the general-election ballot.

Shanske called the personal-property campaign a “Trojan horse” aimed at “frustrating the billionaire tax by ostensibly protecting retirement assets that don’t need protection.”

Darien Shanske is a Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis. His academic interests include taxation, particularly state and local taxation, local government law, public finance, and political theory, particularly jurisprudence.