World’s Richest Ripping Off California

Manufacturing a Crisis in California

The supposed budget crisis in California is a fabrication of the rich. If they paid a tiny bit more of their income toward state taxes, there would be a surplus, not a deficit. Corporate profits in California increased by more than 400 percent between 2001 and 2008, yet state revenues from corporate taxes declined by 50% since 1981. At the same time, the income of the upper 1% increased by 77% between 1993 and 2008, while incomes of the bottom 80% remained flat.  The wealthiest 1% of income earners averaged $1.7 million in 2010 and paid lower tax rates than they did two decades ago. Meanwhile, in two years, Californians will have added more than $100 billion to their personal income, with $20 billion of it going entirely to the richest 1% of Californians, and $60 billion going to the top 20%.

20% of ALL U.S. billionaires reside in California, or 80 of the Forbes’ richest 400 (See List Below). If just the top 19 paid 10% more in taxes, the $25 billion deficit would be completely erased. If all 80 of the billionaires paid 10% more, there would be a surplus of many billions of dollars, allowing us to increase funding for education, health care, and social services. And if everyone who was worth $1 million or more paid 10% more, we could easily provide health care, housing and a quality education for all.

Why Stop There? (We Could Have a Surplus of $20-40 Billion)

• Abolish NCLB. In California, it would save $500 million per year (plus a lot of stress and anxiety for students and teachers.
• Don’t implement Common Core Standards. This would save California $1.6 billion that would otherwise go directly from taxpayers to textbook publishers while dumbing down our standards
• Abolishing the Death Penalty would save another $1 billion per year
• Freeing all Nonviolent Offenders and Ending 3-Strikes and You’re Out would save millions more
• Taxing marijuana would bring in another $1 billion per year
• An oil severance tax of 6% (Alaska charges 20%) would bring in $1 billion per year
• Repealing California’s corporate tax cuts from 2008 & 2009 would bring in another $1 billion

Net Worth of California’s Richest Residents (From Forbes 400 Richest List)
#3 Larry Ellison, $27 billion, Woodside, Oracle
#11 Larry Page $15 billion, Palo Alto
#11 Sergey Brin $15 billion, SF
#21 Donald Bren, $12 billion, Newport
#39 Mark Zuckerberg, $6.9 billion, Palo Alto
#42 Steve Jobs, $6.1 billion, Palo Alto
#44 Eli Broad, $5.8 billion, Los Angeles
#46 Patrick Soon-Shiong, $5.6 billion, Los Angeles, generic drugs
#48 Eric Schmidt. $5.45 billion, Atherton, Google
#54 David Geffen, $5.1 billion, Malibu, CA movies, music
#70 Cargill MacMillan, $3.8 billion, Indian Springs, Cargill Inc
#83 Charles Schwabb, $3.7 billion, Atherton, Investment
#83 Rupert Johnson, $3.7 billion, San Mateo
#85 Ray Dolby, $3.5 billion, SF, Dolby Labs
#88 Gordon Moore, $3.5 billion, Woodside, Intel
#90 Haim Saban, $3.4 billion, Beverly Hills, CA television
#95 John Sobratto, $3.3 billion, Atherton, Real Estate
#97 George Lucas, $3.25 billion, Marin, Star Wars
#101 George Roberts, $3.1 billion, SF, Leveraged Buyouts
#110 Steven Spielberg, $3 billion, Pacific Palisades, CA movies
#119 Riley Bechtel, $2.9 billion, SF, Bechtel Corp Engineering and War Profiteering
#119 Stephen Bechtel, $2.9 billion, SF, Bechtel Corp Engineering and War Profiteering
#119 Kirk Kerkorian, $2.9 billion, Los Angeles, CA investments, casinos
#124 Sumner Redstone,$2.8 billion, Beverly Hills, CA Viacom
#130 Steven Udvar-Hazy, $2.7 billion, Beverly Hills, International Lease Finance
#130 David Murdock, $2.7 billion, Los Angeles, Dole, real estate
#136 David Sun, $2.6 billion, Orange County, computer memory
#136 John Tu, $2.6 billion, Los Angeles, computer memory
#144 William Hilton, $2.5 billion, Los Angeles, CA hotels, casinos
#144 Archie Emerson, $2.5, Redding, Timber
153 John Anderson, $2.4 billion, Bel Air, CA Investments
153 Tom Gores, $2.4 billion, Beverly Hills, CA private equity
159 Doris Fisher, $2.3, SF, Gap
164 A. Jerrold Perenchio, $2.2 billion, Bel Air, CA Univision
164 Jack Dangermond, $2.2, Redlands, Software
170 Wm. Randolf Hearst III, SF, $2.1
170 Michael Milken, $2.1 billion, Los Angeles, CA Investments, Junk bonds, Prison time
170 Edward Roski, $2.1 billion, Los Angeles, CA real estate
170 Bill Gross, $2.1 billion, Laguna Beach, CA Bonds
182 Gordon Getty, $2, SF, Oil
205 Alan Casden, $1.9 billion, Beverly Hills, CA real estate
217 Jess Jackson, Geyserville, $1.85, Wines
221 Phoebe Heart Cook, $1.81, SF, Hearst Corp
221 George Hearst Jr, $1.8 Los Angeles, CA Hearst Corp
221 David Hearst Jr, $1.8  Los Angeles, CA Hearst Corp
221 Mark Benioff, $1.8, SF, Salesforce.com
221 James Coulter, $1.8, SF, leveraged buyouts
236 Charles Munger, $1.75 Los Angeles, CA Berkshire Hathaway
238 Thomas Siebel, $1.7, Woodside, Siebel Systems
238 Henry Samueli, $1.7 Newport Beach, CA Broadcom
238 Alec Gores, $1.7 Beverly Hills, CA private equity
252 George Argyros, $1.6 Newport Beach, CA real estate, investments
252 Ken Fisher, $1.6, Woodside, Money Management
266 John Doerr, $1.55 Woodside, Venture Capital
269 Henry Nicholas, $1.5 Newport Coast, CA Broadcom
269 Richard Peery, $1.5, Palo Alto, Real Estate
269 Charles Brandes, 1.5, San Diego, Money Management
290 Anthony Pritzker, $1.4 Los Angeles, CA hotels, investments
290 John Pritzker, $1.4, SF, Hotels
290 Gary Michelson, $1.4 Los Angeles, CA medical patents
290 John Arrillaga, $1.4, Portola Valley, Real Estate
290 Romesh Wadhwani $1.4, Palo Alto, Software
308 John Morgridge, $1.3, Portola Valley, Cisco
308 Daniel Pritzker, $1.3, Marin, Hotels
308 Vinod Khosla, $1.3, Portola Valley, Sun Microsystems
308 Michael Moritz, $1.3, SF, Venture Capital
308 Carl Berg, $1.3, Atherton, Real Estate
330 John Fisher, $1.25, SF, Gap
332 Meg Whitman, $1.2, Atherton, Ebay
332, Steve Cook, $1.2, Woodside, Intuit
332 Thomas Barrack, $1.2 Los Angeles, CA Colony Capital
356 Howard Marks, $1.15 Los Angeles, CA money management
356 Bruce Karsh, $1.15 Los Angeles, CA money management
385 Tamara Gustavson, $1 Malibu, CA