The amount of advertising money being spent to defeat Prop. 40 is already historic; the numbers from Oct. 1, 2026 show more than $200 million, and that might even be doubled by now. It’s ironic that people are spending so much money to prove that they shouldn’t be taxed. How much essential infrastructure could that sum have paid for?
It’s just an ocean of propaganda, and swimming through it shouldn’t be too challenging.
All of the anti-40 ads are based on slanted studies that offer questionable results. There is no reason to think that any of the outcome they are trying to scare you with could happen. The weird subtext – don’t trust politicians, trust billionaires – flies in the face of the extraordinary amount of harm being done to our political system by people who have unlimited money.
Prop 40 – Vote Yes
Vote No on 41 & 42 – they are only on the ballot to make Prop 40 impossible to enforce.
Prop 41 is “Don’t tax Billionaires” and Prop 42 is “Audit special new taxes.”
It’s the old vote no on yes/vote yes on no shell game.
Ballot propositions are not written with an eye to clarity of simplicity. Most of the time, you have to do the research to vote smart.
Judith Martin-Straw
