> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://ivn.us/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # San Francisco Democrats Just Said No to Taxing Billionaires - URL: https://ivn.us/san-francisco-democrats-just-said-no-to-taxing-billionaires/ - Published: 2026-09-07T19:03:37.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-07T19:05:00.000Z - Description: San Francisco's Democratic Party refused to endorse a one-time wealth tax on billionaires, creating a rare public split with the state party and exposing tensions between the party's moderate and DSA-aligned wings. - Author: Cara Brown McCormick - Tags: California 2026, Economy, California, #Top-Story-2 **SAN FRANCISCO**—The dominant party in America's most progressive city just refused to endorse a tax on billionaires. On August 26, the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee voted 17-4 to oppose [Proposition 40](https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Proposition?number=40&year=2026&ref=ivn.us), the one-time tax on the assets of California's ultra-wealthy that will appear on the November ballot. A proxy for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi voted "no endorsement." After the vote, progressive activists booed and shouted, "shame on you," and several committee members walked out in protest. [How It Really Works: The California Billionaire Wealth TaxCalifornia’s proposed billionaire wealth tax has become one of the most consequential policy debates in the nation.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dc/be/dcbe1ac4-146f-43be-92a6-ea84728d86a6/content/images/icon/ivn-square-logo-80c57cc7-00db-4cca-95f6-17409b6f8b5f.png)Independent Voter NewsCara Brown McCormick![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dc/be/dcbe1ac4-146f-43be-92a6-ea84728d86a6/content/images/thumbnail/HIRW_TheWealthTax-34859f63-48f1-4e7e-86cb-4b78f2783c1d.jpg)](https://ivn.us/how-it-really-works-the-california-billionaire-wealth-tax-2026-03-03/) In a city long regarded as a bastion of the "wokest of the woke," what the vote shows is a moderate wing of the party willing to decisively and publicly break with the ascendant DSA-aligned populists who have been pushing Prop 40. Voting party members warned that a state-level tax would drive venture capitalists and startup founders out of California, damaging the tech economy on which the city’s tax base depends. "This measure has a lot of loopholes: mainly that you can leave California and not pay it," said Emma Hare, an SFDCCC vice chair and co-author of the competing resolution, according to Politico California Playbook. The committee endorsed a competing resolution calling for a national wealth tax instead. SFDCCC chair Nancy Tung framed the vote as a disagreement over method, not values. "San Francisco Democrats care deeply about addressing inequality and making California more affordable, but Proposition 40 is the wrong approach," she told Politico. ## A Rare Break from the State Party The state Democratic Party narrowly endorsed Prop 40 earlier in the summer, and it’s rare for local party committees to not just follow suit. Indeed, San Francisco's leaders had to go out of their way to amend their own bylaws over the summer specifically to make this vote against Prop 40 possible. In doing so, they lined up with Gov. Gavin Newsom, gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra, and Mayor Daniel Lurie, [all of whom oppose the measure](https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook-pm/2026/08/24/on-the-fence-over-prop-40-01047505?ref=ivn.us). ## **"Woke 1.0 Was Crazy"** The moderates on the committee see themselves as a leading indicator. In earlier reporting, Politico quoted SFDCCC vice chair Eric Kingsbury saying San Francisco often experiences the consequences of leftward policy before other cities. "We tend to be at the bleeding edge, and we saw a lot of the negatives of some more extreme policies earlier than most," Kingsbury said. > "[Woke 1.0](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/style/woke-1-aoc-dsa.html?ref=ivn.us) was crazy," he added, saying the city "saw some of that really peak and the tides start to recede before" other blue cities. San Francisco's broader rightward drift inside the Democratic coalition is driven by years of frustration over homelessness, crime, and school closures. Mayor Lurie, a moderate and an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, recently helped defeat a local union-backed ballot measure in the June primary that would have raised taxes on large corporations and their CEOs. Lurie has built genuine popularity in the city by taking a tough, pragmatic line on public safety and street disorder, and that record is giving the moderate wing of his party room to run. His opposition to the billionaire tax also aligns with the city's economic interests. San Francisco is the world's leading hub of AI and tech innovation, home to a concentration of billionaires and venture capital that the local economy depends on keeping in town. City Hall has every incentive to keep those billionaires from leaving, and a state-level wealth tax is exactly the kind of measure that could push them out. ## **The DSA is Having a Moment** The [San Francisco chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America](https://dsasf.org/about/?ref=ivn.us) has a track record of activism, including leading a controversial protest at a February 2026 news conference held by Mayor Daniel Lurie. > At an event this afternoon, a group of individuals that were chanting "tax the rich" began to shout "tax the Jews." This was an event I put on with Supervisor Mahmood, labor leaders, and dozens of workers to announce a plan that creates more jobs for those workers and housing for… > > — Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 (@DanielLurie) [February 25, 2026](https://x.com/DanielLurie/status/2026802319388717149?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=ivn.us) Nationally, the DSA has been having a moment. DSA-aligned candidates have won primaries and races across the country this cycle. [The DSA Class of 2026: 11 Democrats Running as SocialistsHere are 11 candidates calling themselves socialists out loud in 2026.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dc/be/dcbe1ac4-146f-43be-92a6-ea84728d86a6/content/images/icon/ivn-square-logo-0164d8c3-ef8b-4819-a6bc-0260bcae71fe.png)Independent Voter NewsCara Brown McCormick![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dc/be/dcbe1ac4-146f-43be-92a6-ea84728d86a6/content/images/thumbnail/Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez-DSC-Candidates-d05a249c-042d-4d21-8b9e-1bd5a72b3e95.jpg)](https://ivn.us/the-dsa-class-of-2026-11-democrats-running-as-socialists/) Melat Kiros won a Colorado congressional primary. DSA-aligned candidates picked up seats on the Los Angeles City Council. Most of this was carried forward by the momentum of Zohran Mamdani's mayoral win in New York. The rise of the DSA is one of the more heavily covered storylines of the cycle, the kind of narrative that gets called ascendant, inevitable, the future of the party. But if the DSA and its allied populist left cannot win over the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, the party body in one of the most liberal cities in America, where exactly will they win over the moderate Democrats? San Francisco is supposed to be the friendly room. If a one-time tax on billionaires cannot clear the SFDCCC, one wonders how it will clear anywhere. ## The Union Backers Push Back The labor coalition behind Prop 40 was quick to dismiss the significance of the San Francisco vote. SEIU-UHW, the lead union backing the measure, called it irrelevant to the statewide picture. Suzanne Jimenez, the union's chief of staff, told Politico that opposition from "about a dozen regional party bureaucrats, many of whom have business ties to billionaires," was "irrelevant" and called the vote "performative." The measure's backers are betting on organizing. Facing a wave of opposition spending, SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan says he is leaning on relational, volunteer-to-voter outreach that he says is being deployed "not... at this scale before." ## A National Fault Line On September 1, 2026, the US House passed Rep. Jeff Crank's resolution condemning socialism in all its forms, naming the Democratic Socialists of America directly, by a vote of 220-192\. A handful of Democrats crossed over to vote yes, including those facing tough reelection fights in newly redrawn districts. This is the same instinct the San Francisco County party members displayed when they refused to endorse Prop 40: Democrats are putting public distance between themselves and the DSA, and the party's populist left more broadly. Neel Sannappa, chair of the California Democratic Party's progressive caucus, argues the movement remains alive and well in California, pointing to down-ballot results, including [Mai Vang's challenge](https://www.maiforus.com/?ref=ivn.us) to Rep. Doris Matsui, [Randy Villegas's race](https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/22nd-district-primary-villegas/?ref=ivn.us), [Jane Kim's insurance commissioner campaign](https://www.janekim.org/?ref=ivn.us), and [DSA-aligned wins in the mayor’s race and on the Los Angeles City Council](https://forward.com/news/848543/nithya-raman-dsa-endorsement-israel-los-angeles-mayor/?ref=ivn.us). Sannappa acknowledged that this year's progressive campaigns lack a breakout figure. "I really don't feel as though we had somebody who was carrying the Bernie mantle or was the equivalent of Mamdani in the race," he told Politico. In the June 2, 2026 California gubernatorial primary, Tom Steyer ran as the most progressive candidate in the field, and the organized left wing was totally on board, especially once Eric Swalwell made his unceremonious exit from the race. Our Revolution, the Bernie Sanders-aligned group, endorsed Steyer. > Billionaires should not exist. [https://t.co/hgR6CeFvLa](https://t.co/hgR6CeFvLa?ref=ivn.us) > > — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) [September 24, 2019](https://x.com/BernieSanders/status/1176481898685710337?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=ivn.us) California DSA's [own voter guide](https://www.californiadsa.org/voterguide?ref=ivn.us) gave Steyer warm treatment. For many, it was odd to see the left supporting a billionaire when for years they have argued that billionaires should not exist. Prop 40 is on the November ballot, and its fate rests with voters, not committee proxies. Nevertheless, when the ruling party in America's most progressive city refuses to endorse a tax on billionaires, it says something about how far the Democratic establishment is willing to go to draw a line against its own left flank.