Sacramento, CA — Governor Gavin Newsom declared his support of a controversial new tax aimed at California’s growing anti-vaccination movement. The legislation, proposed by Democrat State Assemblyman Richard Pan and two others, seeks to levy a tax on parents who refuse to vaccinate their children.
“You need to let go of your fear and anxiety of being judged by others,” said Governor Newsom on the step of the Sacramento Capitol building, “If you’re trying to understand why it is that certain things happen in Sacramento and certain things don’t, at the end of the day, it comes down to the issue of incentives: We do what we’re incentivized to do. And we want everyone in California vaccinated, so this bill is the incentive.”
“The Healthy Families Vaccination Act” left the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee late last week, and passed the State Senate with only a handful of Republicans objecting. Governor Newsom says he will sign it immediately.
The Details
The bill calls for a tiered income tax for families who choose not to vaccinate their children. A family of four making under $25,000 or less will pay no income taxes. Families making up to $60,000 will pay an additional 4.5% tax on their adjusted rates, and those making over $120,000 per year are expected to cough up an additional 8%.
All anti-vax families will be required to attend an 8-hour online training session about the dangers of not vaccinating their children. Undocumented workers and their families will be exempt from the tax.
However, outspoken anti-vaccination advocate Robert Kennedy Jr. voiced opposition to the bill in a video targeted at State Senator Pan.
“Richard Pan is a Democrat, but he takes money from Monsanto and the other big polluters in California,” Kennedy said in the ad. “This bill is nothing more than a Big Pharma play to poison our children and give them autism, so they can turn around and treat these conditions with more Big Pharma drugs.”
The bill is expected to raise as much as $8 billion in revenue per year, which will be used to provide low-cost vaccinations to California’s children.
