Brin Spends $102M to Block CA Billionaire Tax Initiative

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has spent over $100 million to fund opposition to California's proposed wealth tax, which would impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires' wealth. The revenue generated from this tax would be used to offset federal Medicaid cuts and bolster the state's education system.

The proposed tax will appear as Proposition 40 on the November ballot in California, with two billionaire-backed initiatives, Propositions 41 and 42, aiming to undercut and potentially nullify it. Building a Better California, funded by Brin, is donating $5 million to efforts opposing the tax.

Debru Carthan, vice president of Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, criticized Brin's actions, stating that 'California billionaire Sergey Brin would rather spend $100 million to fund a shady opposition campaign than simply pay his fair share in taxes so millions of Californians don’t lose their healthcare.'

Brin is not the only billionaire financing efforts against the ballot initiative; others include Chris Larsen, Peter Thiel, and Ron Conway. Economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman estimate that California's billionaires paid on average just 0.26% of their wealth each year in state income taxes between 2019 and 2025.