There ’s a well - funded heavyweight fight over potential EV revenue enhancement mention brewing in California that is drawing the attention of some serious fiscal interests . A group of billionaires , harebrained about a proposed tax increase , is squaring off against a potent ridesharing troupe over a ballot enterprisingness that could open up the room access for more Californians to beat back electric vehicles .
The well - finance tussle is over Proposition 30 , a voting initiative that ’s slated to go in front of Californians for a vote this class . Thepropositionwould raise income taxes for residents who make more than $ 2 million a year by 1.75 % . This increased taxation rate would provide somewhere between $ 3.5 billion and $ 5 billion in extra cash — about 80 % of which would go to various programs to incentivize the leverage of zero - emanation vehicles and build out individual and public charging post for those vehicles . The rest of the money would go toward wildfire response and prevention . California has prescribe thatall vehicles sold in the state be emissions - innocent by 2035 , and help oneself consumers corrupt these vehicles now will go a long way to making that conversion chance .
It would seem like someone who lay down millions , literally , each year should n’t be too fuss about a less than 2 % increase on their revenue enhancement — but there ’s a whole caboodle of Silicon Valley billionaires get their step-in in a twist about the possibility of make to pay more money to the authorities . As the San Francisco Chroniclereports , some of the res publica ’s most potent tech billionaires have helped call forth an estimated $ 14 million to campaign against the proposition .
Rideshare cars wait in line in downtown San Francisco.Photo: Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle (AP)
The tilt of anti - Prop 30 funders , many of whom have net worths in the billions , includes Reed Hastings , the beginner and CEO of Netflix , who is worth an estimated $ 2.8 billion and has sound off $ 1 million towards the foeman . ( Earlier this year , in his commencement speech at Stanford , Hastingstold graduatesthat he was “ confident your contemporaries will find a way to invent our way out of the greenhouse”—seems like he ’d rather shift clime solution off to younger contemporaries than to help oneself pay for it himself . )
While $ 14 million to fight a ballot initiative sound like an dreadful lot of money , the pro - proposition detail has a pretty powerful backer in its street corner as well : ridesharing giant Lyft , which , the Chronicle report , has to date spent more than $ 45 million to back Proposition 30 and fend for the criterion against its billionaire opponents .
The proposal would be great news for rideshare services like Lyft . overhaul like Uber and Lyft free-base their business framework around drivers providing their personal machine , save the company a hell of a spate of money in upfront cost . In 2018 , rideshare society made up1 % of California ’s vehicle - relate emission , which are already a huge part of the state ’s overall emissions ; studies have demonstrate that riders using services like Uber or Lyft in the end generate far more expelling per ride than they would in private car .
Uber , Lyft , and other rideshare companies have made large promises to reduce their emissions . This has been gage up by insurance : in California , the res publica ’s Air Resources Board passed arequirement last yearto ratchet up EV use to 90 % of all rideshare rides by 2030 . But these companies face a challenge in how , precisely , to carry out increase EVs in their fleets , when they do not technically own or control the cars involved in the equivalence . Statewide EV credits would be a huge reward in helping more Lyft driver get at cleaner car without a big modification in the companionship ’s profitable business modelling .
It ’s an odd assortment of opponents here : on one hand , a giant rideshare troupe that has a significant story of problematic labor movement behavior , seek to pull through money on its line model and squaring off against billionaires who are pissy that they may have to pay more tax . At the end of the daylight , it ’s crucial that Californians of all income levels get memory access to EVs — it ’s just a wild fight to watch play out in Silicon Valley .
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