Make California Post a Preferred Source California’s business heavyweights are warning residents that Sacramento politicians are preparing to drop a “tax bomb” on the state — and they’ve released a new ad to make the point.
The “explosive” new spot from the Californians Against Wasteful Spending and Higher Taxes coalition uses a fake bomb-squad raid to warn voters about the hundreds of new state and local taxes expected to appear on November’s ballot.
The coalition, a project of the California Business Roundtable, which represents some of the state’s largest employers, released the ad on social media Wednesday.
The 60-second clip opens with people scrambling into a building as two armed men in “Bomb squad” uniforms rush toward an apparent explosive device.
The target? What the ad describes as a “tax bomb” made up of the hundreds of tax hikes California voters could face in November.
As the bomb squad closes in, one officer warns that no Californian will escape the blast.
A post shared by Californians Against Wasteful Spending and Higher Taxes (@caagainstwastefulspending)
“With this big of a tax bomb nothing is safe. The entire state could get destroyed.”
The ad mentions that roughly 2 million people have “evacuated” — those who have already left California for states including Texas and Florida in recent years.
The message then identifies the culprit as a “group called the politicians,” accusing them of demanding more taxpayer money for “programs even if they all fail.”
The ad ends with a simple message to voters: “No to higher taxes.”
Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, told The California Post that the goal is to get voters paying attention before Election Day.
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“Just to get people’s attention that there’s a lot of taxes on the ballot on election day. The key is that they understand what’s coming,” Lapsley said.
“We are the highest tax state in the country and all we are doing is continuing to pass taxes.”
Lapsley said the tax hikes are at odds with the constant political focus on affordability and California’s sky-high cost of living.
“Everybody talks about affordability and the cost of living but then all you do is see more taxes. And when you keep piling on more taxes all you do is make California more unaffordable.”
He said the broader concern is whether businesses can continue creating jobs and keeping workers in the state.
The California Business Roundtable represents CEOs and top executives of some of California’s largest companies, spanning a combined workforce of over 500,000 employees.
He said the message he hopes people come away from the ad with is that it’s about “jobs and being able to grow jobs and keep California affordable for our employees.”
The coalition argues that Sacramento has already had plenty of taxpayer money to spend.
“In the last five years, Sacramento blew through a $100 billion surplus on a reckless spending spree, with billions of taxpayer dollars lost to waste and fraud. State spending increased by 79% since 2019,” a message on the coalition’s website reads.
“New taxes won’t solve the problem. They’ll make it worse by driving away jobs, revenue, and opportunity, ultimately hitting regular people and businesses the hardest.”
Another business-backed group, the Coalition for California, has also been hammering Sacramento over its spending.
The group argues that despite the enormous spending, California continues to struggle with homelessness, deteriorating roads and underperforming schools.
