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California’s unions have built a $1B taxpayer-funded machine

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California will not stop taxing its citizens. The state slaps a 63-cent fee on every gallon of gas. Sales taxes exceed 10% in some cities. The state’s highest earners pay a double-digit marginal rate to Sacramento on top of what they owe the feds.

One group, more than any other, has cashed in on this arrangement: California’s public-sector unions. For them, higher taxes are good business. More taxes means more state workers, which means more union members, more dues, and more power for union bosses. The union bosses, in turn, keep the dollars flowing, agitating for more tax hikes, more spending, and more state workers.

How powerful are California’s public-sector unions? In the calendar or fiscal year ending in 2024, 10 of the largest California-based unions with public-sector members collectively raked in more than $1 billion in dues and fees.

Many of these unions spend at least some of their revenues on lobbying. State politicians, playing their part in the scheme, devote more taxpayer resources to the public sector, inching California toward the kind of soft socialism that its leaders have long desired — no armed revolution necessary.

In the private sector, unions negotiate against a corporation, whose executives have skin in the game. In the public sector, by contrast, unions negotiate against the state, which is spending other people’s money.

In California, public-sector unions have exploited this dynamic to create a feedback loop that has made them the most powerful machine in state politics.

The state’s 10 most powerful unions have more than 1 million members. The unions’ combined membership equates to at least 6% of the state’s 2024........

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