Money, in brief

Florida votes on Tuesday on Amendment 3, a cut in property tax on lived-in homes. [1]

Property tax is a yearly local tax based on what a home is worth. [2]

The tax-free part of a home's value would rise from $50,000 to $250,000 by 2028. [2]

It would reach $150,000 first, in 2027. [2]

Florida's legislature estimates local governments would lose $11.8 billion a year. [2]

It needs 60% of voters to say yes, because it changes Florida's constitution. [2]

For Florida's home owners, the vote decides a yearly bill averaging just over $3,000. [2]

Local leaders say libraries, buses and after-school programs could be cut if it passes. [1]

Public finance research finds cutting one group's property tax shifts the tax onto others. [2]

Jacksonville's chief administrator says renters and business owners "won't see any benefit". [1]

The amendment sets out no extra state money to fill the gap, an economist notes. [2]

Floridians vote on 3 November, and the result comes after the polls close. [2]

Florida's Amendment 3 would cut the yearly tax on homes their owners live in by about $1,000 on average, and take about $11.8 billion a year from local governments. [3][2]

Renters, businesses and people who move to Florida later get no exemption, and an economist says businesses and landlords would almost certainly pay more to fill the gap. [2]

The Yes campaign sells the cut as relief from rising prices, so the vote feels like a vote on the cost of living rather than on what the city stops paying for. [1]

Their tax-free part of the home's value would rise to $250,000 by 2028, while newcomers wait five years for the full break. [2]

Rentals and businesses get no exemption, and city budgets could shrink by as much as 23% next year. [2][3]

How Florida's cities would fill the gap if Amendment 3 passes.

The amendment names no new state money, and cities could raise other fees, cut services or tax rentals and businesses more. [2]

How tightly North Carolina's property tax limit would bind.

The amendment leaves the figure to lawmakers, and a state scholar says the formula will decide whether it is a guardrail or a hard limit. [6]

California votes on Tuesday on Proposition 40, a one-time 5% tax on billionaires' wealth. [10]

Wealth here means everything a person owns, including shares in their companies. [14]

About 200 of California's 21 million tax returns would pay it. [3]

Backers say it would raise $100 billion: 90% for healthcare, 10% for schools and food aid. [3]

A new Politico poll finds 45% for it, 43% against and 12% undecided. [11]

Planned Parenthood and the state's teachers' and doctors' groups oppose it. [11]

The main group fighting it, Building a Better California, has raised $330 million. [11]

In 1978 Californians voted to cap property tax at 1% of a home's value. [10]

Since then, its top 1% of earners have brought in up to half of state revenue. [10]

If it passes, Californians' health cover would get most of the money. [3]

Economists Owen Zidar and Eric Zwick say California cannot fund itself from a few hundred people. [10]

Six billionaires who would owe about a quarter of it have left, two economists say. [10]

Even if it passes, both sides expect long court fights over whether it is legal. [11]

Rival Propositions 41 and 42 would cancel it if they win more yes votes. [13]

Why voters back taxes that land on someone else

A ballot question passes when more than half vote yes

So the deciding vote is the voter in the middle

That voter compares what they gain with what they pay

A cut for many, or a tax on a few, wins that voter

So costs drift to people who are few, or who cannot vote there

A vote counts people, not dollars.

Proposition 40 would be decided by millions of voters and paid by about 200 of them.

About 200 of 21 million tax returns would pay it, so almost every voter decides on a tax they will never pay.

The city's voters decide a tax that every fan at every game pays, whether they live there or not.

Every voter buys food, so every major party in February's election promised to cut the food tax.

People do not vote only with their wallets: the billionaire tax polls close to a tie.

On Tuesday a Florida home owner votes on a tax cut that Florida's renters and shop owners may help pay for.

Whether California's billionaire tax passes.

Politico finds 45% for and 43% against, AIMSA finds 50% for and 44% against, and betting markets give it about a one-in-four chance. [11][12]

How much the billionaire tax would really raise.

Backers say $100 billion; researchers at the Hoover Institution say about $30 billion once billionaires move and court cases are counted. [14]

How much is being spent against the billionaire tax.

The Information puts the main opposing group at $330 million, while the Guardian counts more than $356 million across several groups; the totals cover different committees. [11][13]

California also votes on Tuesday on two ways of borrowing money for housing. [5]

Proposition 37 would set up a $25 billion fund of home loans for middle-income buyers. [15]

Buyers would put down at least 3% on a new home costing under $1.5 million. [15]

The state would raise the money by selling bonds, which are loans from investors. [15]

Proposition 1 would let California borrow $11.25 billion for affordable and rental homes. [5]

An AIMSA poll of 2,000 likely voters found 59% back Proposition 37. [12]

The same poll found 54% back Proposition 1. [12]

The California Association of Realtors is Proposition 37's biggest funder. [15]

Rhode Island votes on a $120 million housing bond that would cost $192.5 million with interest. [5]

Borrowed money is repaid with interest, so a bond costs more than its face value. [5]

The Hoover Institution warns of pressure for a state bail-out if buyers do not repay. [15]

North Dakota votes on Tuesday on free breakfast and lunch for every public school pupil. [9]

The change would go into the state's constitution, its highest law. [9]

Today, whether a child eats free depends on the household's income. [9]

The state would pay for the extra meals, on top of federal money. [9]

Only 8 US states give every pupil free school meals now. [9]

Together for School Meals, a citizen-led anti-hunger group, put it on the ballot. [9]

MultiState, an elections tracker, says no strongly Republican state has done this by vote. [9]

Families above the income line would stop paying for school meals. [9]

Baltimore votes on Tuesday on setting up a fund for families with newborn babies. [9]

The city would pay in 3 cents for every $100 of property value it taxes. [9]

Backers plan $1,000 for the parents of each newborn, about 7,100 babies a year. [9]

That would cost the city about $15 million a year. [9]

Baltimore's mayor, Brandon Scott, supports it. [9]

The US government already puts $1,000 into Trump Accounts for babies born from 2025. [9]

The ballot wording only says the money will help families with newborns, to avoid court challenges. [9]

Inglewood, the Los Angeles suburb with SoFi Stadium, votes on raising its ticket tax. [9]

Fans pay a 10% ticket tax, but the city stops once it collects a set sum. [9]

That cap was set at $15 million in 2015, and it rises with prices. [9]

The measure would lift the cap, bringing in tens of millions of dollars more. [9]

It would also add a 2.5% ticket tax at the nearby Intuit Dome, the Clippers' arena. [9]

SoFi Stadium hosts the Super Bowl in February. [9]

Inglewood's voters decide a tax that every fan at every game and concert pays. [9]

The city's voters decide a tax that every fan at every game pays, whether they live there or not.

US petrol averaged $4.20 a gallon on Friday, nearly 40% more than a year ago. [16]

Diesel, used by lorries and farms, rose about 70% in a year to $6.32 a gallon. [16]

GasBuddy, which tracks fuel prices, says Tuesday will be the dearest election day ever for fuel. [16]

In 2022's elections, petrol was $3.80 a gallon. [16]

Since 1 March, Americans have spent about $145 billion more on fuel than a year before. [17]

Prices jumped after the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February. [16]

Iran then hit tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for oil ships. [16]

Trump let lorries use tax-free off-road diesel and offered farmers $8 billion. [16]

ExxonMobil's chief says diesel is the key pressure point because the economy runs on it. [16]

Firms pass fuel costs on: airlines have raised fares to cover dearer jet fuel. [16]

US energy companies' earnings have more than doubled from a year ago. [17]

Lower-income families often own no shares, a KPMG economist says. [17]

So they feel higher fuel prices without the stock market gains, the economist says. [17]

GasBuddy warns that new fighting after the vote could lift prices before Thanksgiving. [16]

Their earnings have more than doubled from a year ago as fuel prices climbed. [17]

Americans have spent about $145 billion more on fuel since 1 March, and diesel is up about 70% in a year. [17][16]

Whether US fuel prices fall after Tuesday's vote.

GasBuddy says new fighting with Iran after the vote could push prices up again before Thanksgiving. [16]

US workers got 52.8% of the country's income in the spring, the lowest since 1947. [18]

The figure counts wages and salaries as a share of everything the economy produces. [18]

It was 53.6% the quarter before, and has averaged about 55.6% this decade. [18]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US government's jobs counter, publishes it. [18]

Fortune 500 companies made a record $2.1 trillion in profit in 2025. [18]

The US added just 29,000 jobs in September. [18]

Labour economist Raymond Robertson links the fall to machines and software replacing workers. [18]

When workers' share falls, more of each dollar of output goes to company owners. [18]

Economists call this the labour share: the slice of national income paid as wages. [18]

Morgan Stanley economists say it is still an open question whether AI is the cause. [18]

Fortune 500 profits hit a record $2.1 trillion in 2025 while workers' share of income fell to a record low. [18]

Whether AI is behind the fall in US workers' share of income.

One economist points to automation, while Morgan Stanley economists say the cause is still an open question. [18]

Vanguard, a big US fund firm, studied what happens to small 401(k) pots. [19]

A 401(k) is a US workplace retirement savings account. [19]

With automatic transfers, cash-outs of pots under $1,000 fell from about 50% to 9%. [19]

The system moves a leaver's pot into a holding account until their new plan joins. [19]

But only 6% of the moved pots have reached a new employer's plan. [19]

1.22 million people are waiting to be matched with a new plan. [19]

The median pot moved was $200, and the typical saver earned about $20,000 a year. [19]

A second Vanguard study looked at new retirees aged 60 to 72. [20]

80% of them left their 401(k) untouched for a year after retiring. [20]

Cashing out before 59 and a half can mean income tax and a 10% penalty. [19]

Faced with too many choices, many retirees simply do nothing, Vanguard's report finds. [20]

Fees on the holding accounts can slowly eat small pots while they wait, Vanguard says. [19]

About 53,118 automatic transfers have moved $71.3 million into workers' new plans. [19]

When the 1.22 million waiting 401(k) pots reach their owners' new plans.

A pot moves only when the new employer joins the transfer network, and few have. [19]

Where employers moved small 401(k) pots automatically when a worker left, the share cashed out fell from about half to 9%, Vanguard found.

Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX's president, will give over 2 million SpaceX shares to children. [21]

SpaceX is Elon Musk's rocket company. [21]

The shares go into Trump Accounts, US government savings accounts for children under 18. [21]

The first gift is for 11 to 17-year-olds where median family income is $57,000 or less. [21]

The gifts are meant for low-income communities, the Shotwells say. [21]

Eligible families get a notice by Monday, 2 November. [21]

A second gift covers children in military families abroad and in foster care, among others. [21]

Elon Musk said this month he would give one share to every child in America. [21]

Michael and Susan Dell gave $6.25 billion to Trump Accounts last December. [21]

The donor chooses who gets shares: the second gift favours counties near the Shotwells' Texas home. [21]

Shotwell says the shares will reach children's accounts in December. [21]

Children in poorer zip codes will own shares in SpaceX by Christmas. [21]

They get SpaceX shares in their Trump Accounts in December, from Gwynne Shotwell's gift. [21]

Japan's lower house began debating a bill on 20 October to cut the tax on food. [22]

Japan's consumption tax, a sales tax, on food would fall from 8% to 1%. [22]

The cut would last two years from April 2027, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said. [23]

It would be the first cut to the tax since it began in 1989. [23]

The cut would cost Japan's government an estimated 4.4 trillion yen in tax. [23]

Every major party in February's election promised to cut or scrap the food tax. [24]

Japan's government chose 1%, not 0%, because shop tills cannot easily charge zero. [24]

Prices in Japan rose 2.1% in the year to September, the most this year. [22]

The IMF, which checks countries' finances, told Japan in February not to cut the tax. [25]

The IMF calls it untargeted: it reaches every buyer, not only those in need. [23]

Japan's government debt is about 204% of its economy, the IMF projects. [23]

Takaichi says she will not borrow to pay for it, but has given few details. [23]

Every voter buys food, so every major party in February's election promised to cut the food tax.

The food tax cut would cost an estimated 4.4 trillion yen, in a country whose debt is about 204% of its economy. [23]

How Japan will pay for its food tax cut.

Takaichi says she will not borrow for it, but Japan's government has given few details of what it will cut instead. [23]

Pakistan's regulator raised the official price of cooking gas again for November. [26]

LPG, liquefied petroleum gas, is sold to homes in cylinders for cooking. [26]

An 11.8kg household cylinder now officially costs 3,470 rupees, up 173 rupees. [26]

In the open market, LPG sells for up to 630 rupees a kilo, against 294 officially. [26]

The official price follows Saudi Aramco's export price and the dollar. [26]

Distributors say about 70% of Pakistan's LPG came from Iran, whose border is closed. [26]

Many in the trade warn the crisis will deepen because of the gas shortage. [26]

LPG sellers threaten to strike from 16 November over a new government policy. [26]

Families who buy on the open market pay up to about twice the official rate. [26]

They sell cooking gas at up to 630 rupees a kilo, against an official 294, while supply from Iran is cut off. [26]

About 300 volunteers packed Diwali food hampers in Birmingham, England, on Saturday. [27]

Diwali is a religious festival that celebrates light over darkness, the organiser says. [27]