Californians may tax the rich more to subsidise electric cars

A fight over the proposal exposes three larger problems facing the Golden State

FILE -- An EVgo charging station at the parking lot of The World's Tallest Thermometer in Baker, Calif., April 18, 2019. On abortion, climate change, guns and much more, two Americas -- one liberal, one conservative -- are moving in opposite directions. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)Credit: New York Times / Redux / eyevineFor further information please contact eyevinetel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709e-mail: info@eyevine.comwww.eyevine.com

Oct 17th 2022|SAN FRANCISCO

Gavin newsom, California’s Democratic governor, presents himself as an environmental champion, pushing for aggressive rules to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and ban the sale of petrol-powered cars from 2035. So when Mr Newsom recently began appearing in television adverts encouraging voters to reject Proposition 30, a ballot initiative to increase taxes on the wealthy in order to fund electric-vehicle expansion, it turned heads. In the advert, Mr Newsom describes Prop 30 as “a Trojan horse that puts corporate welfare above the fiscal welfare of our entire state”.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “How high?”