The Yes on Proposition 39 recently played hard ball to get its share of the spotlight from other tax measures, namely the governor’s (Prop 30) and Molly Munger’s rival campaign (Prop 38). Under Proposition 39, the state's corporate tax formula would be revised so that most companies would have to calculate their liability based on their share of sales in California. It would provide staff coffers additional revenue. So the Yes on Prop 39 campaign attempted to goad four companies -- Chrysler, General Motors, Kimberly-Clark and International Paper --- into pledging not to oppose the measure with the following threat: make the pledge or be branded “the big four tax dodgers.”

On July 30, the campaign gave the four companies a noon deadline and said if they didn’t reverse course they would be tarred as tax dodgers in a campaign launch centered on the companies’ current contracts paid with Californians' tax dollars. The companies were targeted because they have lobbied successfully to keep a corporate tax loophole alive.

The campaign released a full-page ad in the Sacramento Bee with the threat and the ad reads as follows: “If they choose to stand against California, we will launch THE BIG FOUR TAX DODGERS campaign - a sustained effort to inform taxpayers, consumers and government officials about the conduct of these four companies, including but not limited to: the specifics of their government contracts; their record of state and local tax delinquencies; the amount of bailout money they received that came from California; their record of off-shoring of jobs; and what contracts or other issues they are currently lobbying before federal, state and local governments."

You can view the full ad here:
 

Sac Bee Ad - 7-26-12 - Final