Billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer is facing backlash after a viral clip showed him saying his own tax bill is “not the answer” to inequality.
In the clip, private equity baron Steyer squabbles with Republican Steve Hilton — who said onstage that Steyer pays the lowest tax rate of “anyone on this stage.”
“My wife and I have said that we will give the bulk of our money while we’re alive,” Steyer stammered at the Wednesday night debate.
“But me paying more taxes is not the answer,” he continued.
The regrettable sound bite, from the Wednesday night California governor debate in San Francisco, has already resulted in a mortifying attack ad from a big-money committee aiming to defeat Steyer, a private equity baron running as a progressive Democrat.
“If one person puts more money into the government doesn’t solve it, we need structural change,” Steyer added in the exchange.
Special interests “are scared of me,” Steyer claimed.
An anti-Steyer committee called California is Not for Sale rapidly blasted out an ad accusing the billionaire of investing in properties and casinos tied to President Donald Trump — while claiming he’ll take down the president — along with the coal and private prison industries, while stashing earnings offshore.
“Despite these misleading attempts, Tom’s position has been consistent on taxing billionaires like himself, and he is the only candidate in this race calling on billionaires to pay more,” said Steyer spokesperson Danni Wang.
Steyer, who’s worth an estimated $2.4 billion, has come out in favor of a highly controversial tax proposal that would slap a 5% levy on the total wealth of California billionaires.
The self-styled progressive billionaire has called for higher taxes on corporations to fix “the system” and said he wants to abolish ICE.
However, it’s not the first time Steyer has been accused of hypocrisy.
The wealthy populist was forced to apologize this month after opponents revealed a past investment in a company behind the state’s largest immigration detention center.
Steyer’s hedge fund Farallon Capital Management put money into CoreCivic, a firm that now runs five detention facilities in California. Farallon’s shares in the company were once valued at $89.1 million.
“We never had anything to do with running the company,” Steyer said this month. “But it was a mistake to think that that was a place where it was decent to make money.”