Full Breakdown
Sergey Brin Leads $102 Million Campaign Against California’s Billionaire Tax
By Drooid · · How we work
Proposition 40 and the Opposition Campaign
Proposition 40, slated for the November ballot, would levy a one-time 5 % tax on California’s roughly 200 billionaires, directing 90 % of the revenue to the state’s health-care system and the remaining 10 % to education, food assistance and administration. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has contributed $102 million to Building a Better California, a political-action committee that opposes the measure. Campaign filings indicate total opposition spending now exceeds $187 million, making Brin the largest single donor, while pro-tax contributions have reached about $32 million.
Fiscal Stakes for Brin and the State
Brin’s net worth is estimated at nearly $260 billion, and the proposed tax could create a liability of roughly $13 billion for him. California’s economy, valued at $4 trillion, also has the nation’s highest poverty rate, with 18 % of residents living below the poverty line. Six billionaires—Brin, Larry Page, Peter Thiel, Don Hankey, Travis Kalanick and Steven Spielberg—would together have generated about $27 billion in state tax revenue, roughly one-quarter of the $100 billion the measure is projected to raise over five years.
Potential Exodus and Economic Projections
Brin now lists Nevada as his residence; Page has transferred assets to Delaware; Brin purchased a $51 million home near Miami Beach. A working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research notes that California billionaires paid $4.1 billion in income tax last year—about 0.2 % of their collective $2 trillion net worth. Even if every billionaire left the state, the lost income tax would take decades to offset the $100 billion projected windfall, and a quarter-scale exodus would require a century to equal that amount.
Official Statements & Responses
Governor Gavin Newsom argues the tax would erode California’s tax base and cut funding for education, teachers, librarians, childcare, firefighting and police. Brin, recalling his family’s 1979 escape from the Soviet Union, said he does not want California to become “the same place” as the oppressive society he fled.
Verbatim Quotes
- “The fact is it actually will reduce investments in education,” — California Gov. Gavin Newsom (— California Gov. Gavin Newsom)