(Disclosure: I work for Yes on 24)

If you’ve followed the debate concerning Proposition 24, the Tax Fairness Act, then you probably know what its opponents claim. The groups funding the opposition, big corporations, want you to believe that making them pay their fair share will kill California jobs. This sets us a dichotomy we hear a lot from certain quarters: low corporate taxes mean lots of jobs for the little people.

Unfortunately, that’s not quite how it works. And what’s more, we now know that CEOs like the ones whose companies are trying to defeat Prop 24 actually have a personal disincentive to create jobs. In fact, the Institute for Policy Studies released a stunning report this year indicating that CEOs who lay off workers receive exponentially higher pay than their peers who do not. CEOs are not stupid. They know there’s an easy way to boost their own corporate reputation and paycheck, even if it comes at the expense of hardworking people lower down the totem pole.  

The report paints a grim picture, and it suggests that America desperately needs to rethink how executive compensation works. But until that happens, California voters should be deeply suspicious of CEOs who threaten that action we take will cost us jobs. Telling us that Proposition 24 is the problem in this economic climate is deeply disingenuous.

And again, those CEOs are the people telling us to reject Proposition 24. Take a look at the campaign finance disclosures for No on 24- their donors are big corporations and CEOs, not the small businesses they claim would be affected. Should we be starving our budget and ourselves to give billions to these people? California voters should say no to CEOs and Yes to 24 on November 2nd.