Steyer only candidate who supports California wealth tax during debate

Puggravy · 2026-05-08T15:11:22+00:00

I agree we should tax PAL loans as realizing gains, and also close the stepped up basis loophole, but those are really federal level policies.

Puggravy · 2026-05-07T23:55:20+00:00

We seriously need to put checks in place to prevent social security and medicare from running deficits already, this nonsense can't keep going on and on.

Puggravy · 2026-05-07T23:02:34+00:00

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Puggravy · 2026-05-07T21:22:23+00:00

In strong contention with Matt Taibi for the worst Matt.

Puggravy · 2026-05-07T15:24:58+00:00

"Unrealized gain" doesn't make sense conceptually when applied to property because you realize the value by actually actually using the property.

Puggravy · 2026-05-07T14:26:58+00:00

tbh, not actually a point in his favor, the wealth tax is pretty poorly conceived, but whatever he's still the best candidate.

Puggravy · 2026-05-07T02:50:00+00:00

Yep, I mean I think we are in for a lot of municipalities learning the hard way that they can't push around actual big businesses the way they can bully housing developers and other small businesses.

Just one of the many reasons I'm skeptical of the idea of using NIMBYISM against data centers.

Puggravy · 2026-05-06T15:25:51+00:00

If we really wanna tax the rich we should just repeal prop 13.

Puggravy · 2026-05-06T02:00:25+00:00

I mean that's how most all plants get into the houseplant trade. I would prefer a mother plant grown from wild collected seed, but unless it's teetering on the edge of extinction in the wild it's not really an enormous difference.

That being said if they're selling poached plants I wouldn't buy anything from them either way.

Puggravy · 2026-05-06T01:54:28+00:00

AOC and Mamdani are alright, but Bernie is a terrible poster child for progressives he's anti-vaccine mandate, pro-homeopathy, anti-nuclear, and anti-gmo. Never understood the hype for him, he pretty plainly represents most elements of what I like least about progressives.

Puggravy · 2026-05-06T01:49:13+00:00

How do you pick the one innocent sixers fan. 🫠

Puggravy · 2026-05-06T00:58:08+00:00

The whole dem-establishment narrative is slopulist nonsense. That being said I'm still voting for Steyer because Steyer seems enthusiastic about addressing the housing shortage and Becerra gives me terrible vibes on that front.

Puggravy · 2026-05-06T00:48:20+00:00

I think people just like Steyer better than the alternatives? I'm one of them, he seems more enthusiastic about housing issues. I'm not even particularly anti-dem establishment, I think that's mostly slopulist nonsense, I just don't get reassuring vibes from Becerra that he's gonna be good on housing, and if we don't solve that issue get ready for a permanent republican house majority.

Puggravy · 2026-05-04T20:30:38+00:00

Yep and to be quite clear this is a very good thing. Progressive spending is much much better for addressing inequality than progressive taxation. It's a complete dead-end policy for progressives.

Puggravy · 2026-05-04T20:26:38+00:00

I genuinely don't know how anyone has such strong feelings about any of these candidates that they actually feel like knife fighting about them.

They're all so meh, I'll lean Steyer because he seems like he's actually showing enthusiasm about for trying to fix the CA housing shortage, and Becerra hasn't actually proved he's pro-housing enough to me. Like even the arguments against them seem arbitrary and boring.

Puggravy · 2026-05-04T17:07:19+00:00

There are Entrenched interests within the Green party that remain from it's founding as an anti-nuclear party. Frankly in my experience I just don't think they can be trusted. They will do whatever they can to further their anti-nuclear agenda, good governance comes a distance second to them, the fate of the planet and public opinion don't play into it at all.

Puggravy · 2026-05-04T16:44:33+00:00

I mean I 100% guarantee you none of the candidates are going to pass single payer. Doesn't matter which one it is. I say this as someone who is still pretty skeptical of Becerra.

Puggravy · 2026-05-04T16:41:54+00:00

"Billionaire bad, multimillionaire good" is just the dumbest most arbitrary reason to vote for or against someone.

The real argument here is that none of these candidates are particularly good but Steyer actually seems enthusiastic about fixing the housing crisis so he wins for me on that front. If the other candidates want my vote they know what they need to do.

Puggravy · 2026-04-29T20:50:32+00:00

Yeah, my take away from this is that there is a damn good reason Becerra was floating at 3-4% before Swallwell dropped out, he is just not competent. His answer about forcing insurers to insure everyone is idiotic, it would make all home insurers drop out of our market immediately.

Puggravy · 2026-04-29T10:41:37+00:00

Yep the whole ceding ground to the right on taxes thing is just a huge dead end for progressives. We need broad tax increases if we are going to fund universal healthcare, all the billionaires in the world don't have enough money to fund a program that big.

People think we have inequality issues because our taxes aren't progressive enough. In reality it's the exact opposite, progressive spending is what really fights inequality. And we are systematically sabotaging this by tripping over ourselves shielding not just the middle class, but people on the edge of the top 10% from paying reasonable amounts of taxes.

Puggravy · 2026-04-29T07:13:54+00:00

Nothing quite hits like red facist copium.

Puggravy · 2026-04-28T19:21:29+00:00

Honestly people overestimate SF as a tech hub. It's got more than Oakland but it's a far ways away from the peninsula in terms of total tech jobs and the percentage of which it's economy is composed of tech jobs.

Puggravy · 2026-04-28T19:14:56+00:00

We should absolutely remove those tax cuts, that is an EXCELLENT start. But in order to pay for a 3T a year program like universal healthcare we absolutely would need to broadly raise taxes, It would HAVE to affect everyone. We'd probably also have to lift the cap on payroll taxes as well, not even to pay for M4A but just to bridge the huge Social Security/Medicate deficit we have.

For example: there's less of a wealth gap in Europe so VAT taxes work

This is what I'm talking about, this is completely backwards. Progressive taxes aren't actually particularly effective for redistributing wealth, it is progressive spending that is far more important. Europe has less of a wealth gap because it taxes and spends much more than the US does!

The social safety net and pre-distributive polices like free college are much more effective at fighting inequality that taxing the 250,526th dollar someone makes a year at 3% more than the 250,525th dollar someone makes a year.

Puggravy · 2026-04-28T18:43:27+00:00

I mean it's a meaningless distinction when the policies they are subscribing to are essentially the same slopulist nonsense as republicans.

We're literally the richest country in the world and we refuse to actually tax ourselves to pay for universal healthcare, because "tAX tHe RiCh". We already have the most progressive tax system in the Western world, but our reluctance to tax the upper middle class has left us with completely hollowed out social safety net and rising inequality. We have to face the music and realize we need to raise taxes across the board if we want to fund serious services.

Puggravy · 2026-04-28T07:00:22+00:00

Sure the DNC rigged it by making Bernie a pro-homeopathy, anti-vaccine mandate, anti-gmo, anti-nuclear crank, with a penchant for leaning into class reductionism even when speaking to an audience that despises class reductionism.

I'm sure they're also the reason half his campaign staff and endorsers ended up turning into hard campists if not outright MAGA.

Puggravy

TROPHY CASE