拟议中的加州财富税激起了一批亿万富翁的强烈反对，他们纷纷站出来对抗该提案。而在另一方，则是一群不那么显眼的权力掮客：起草该投票提案的四位教授。
The proposed California wealth tax has galvanized a host of billionaires who have lined up to fight it. On the other side lies a group of less obvious power brokers: the four professors who drafted the ballot measure.
这四人组由三位加州大学教授和一位密苏里大学法学院税法学者组成：加州大学伯克利分校经济学家埃马纽埃尔·萨兹，以及法学教授布莱恩·加尔（伯克利分校）和达里安·尚斯克（戴维斯分校）。第四位是密苏里大学法学院的税法学者大卫·加马奇。
The group is made up of three professors at the University of California: Berkeley economist Emmanuel Saez and law professors Brian Galle and Darien Shanske, at Berkeley and Davis, respectively. The fourth is tax scholar David Gamage at the University of Missouri’s law school.
这四位学者曾就一系列类似措施在州和联邦层面提供建议，但那些提案迄今均告停滞。周二以40号提案形式出现在加州选票上的亿万富翁税，代表了他们协助起草的财富税提案最接近成为法律的一次。这场斗争已成为加州历史上代价最高昂的投票之争之一，并暴露了民主党内部的深层分歧。如果成为法律，这将是现代美国历史上的首个财富税。
The four have advised on a host of similar measures at both the state and federal level that have stalled so far. The California billionaire tax, on the ballot Tuesday as Prop. 40, represents the closest they have come to seeing a wealth-tax proposal they helped craft become law. It has become one of the costliest ballot fights in California’s history and has exposed deep divisions among Democrats. If it becomes law, it would be the first U.S. wealth tax in the modern era.
这些提案背后的学者已悄然成为民主党议员和州活动人士的首选智囊团，但他们也招致了他处的批评。“亿万富翁税是由四位不相信美国梦的教授撰写的新提案，”投资人兼“All-In”播客主持人查马斯·帕利哈皮蒂亚今年早些时候在X平台上表示。“他们有些人甚至不是美国人……去想吧，”他补充道，推测指的是拥有法国和美国双重国籍的知名经济学家萨兹。
The academics behind the measure have quietly become the go-to brain trust for Democratic lawmakers and state activists, but they have garnered criticism elsewhere. “The Billionaire Tax is a new proposal written by four professors who don’t believe in the American dream,” said investor and “All-In” podcast host Chamath Palihapitiya on X earlier this year. “Some of them aren’t even American…go figure,” he added, presumably referring to Saez, a prominent economist who has both French and U.S. citizenship.