Google co-founder Sergey Brin has poured $102 million into killing a California wealth tax — proving once again that the Big Tech oligarchs who lecture working Americans about equity will spend whatever it takes to exempt themselves.
Brin, whose net worth sits at $284 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is bankrolling two ballot measures designed to neutralize Proposition 40, a one-time 5% tax on billionaire assets that would fund healthcare, education, and food assistance. According to the Los Angeles Times, Brin's latest donation totaled $20 million, all routed through a group called Building a Better California.
Proposition 40 applies to anyone worth at least $1 billion who resided in California on January 1. Supporters estimate it could raise roughly $100 billion. The Legislative Analyst's Office says the exact figure is hard to predict but concedes the state would likely collect tens of billions.
Brin's counterplay is procedural, not principled. Building a Better California is funding Propositions 41 and 42. Prop 41 would require audits for new state special taxes and bar new taxes that exempt their revenue from a state spending limit. Prop 42 would prohibit new taxes on individually-owned assets, retirement holdings, and personal savings, and bar retroactive taxes on past earnings. Both sound reasonable in isolation. But the Legislative Analyst's Office confirmed that if either measure receives more approval votes than Prop 40, the wealth tax is nullified — dead on arrival.
The group's website calls itself
