Illinois Progressives Wanted To Tax the Rich. A Right-Wing Billionaire Helped Defeat Them.
A ballot measure to tax the rich failed on election night in Illinois. The person behind the “no” campaign: right-wing billionaire Ken Griffin, who funneled $50 million of his own money to kill the referendum.
Founder and CEO at Citadel LLC Kenneth C. Griffin on November 12, 2013 in New York City. (Larry Busacca / Getty Images for the New York Times)
It’s good to be Ken Griffin.
The billionaire hedge fund manager wasn’t thrilled about the idea of paying an additional 3 percent in taxes on his estimated $1.5 billion annual income. To Griffin, the burden of Illinois’s staggering financial crisis should remain squarely on the shoulders of workers.
So, he almost single-handedly bought a state election.
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