Billionaires pour millions into ballot fight over California wealth tax.
Bernie Sanders: "Google founder Sergey Brin's wealth has DOUBLED to $311 billion since Trump's election.
Now he’s spending $57M to oppose a 5% billionaires' wealth tax in California."
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A proposal in California to temporarily increase taxes on billionaires has enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.
The proposal would impose a one-time 5% tax on individuals whose net worth exceeds $1 billion and who were living in the state as of Jan. 1, 2026. The goal is to generate $100 billion in revenue, which would largely be used to offset federal funding cuts to healthcare for low-income people.
The California Secretary of State still has to verify the signatures and officially place the measure on the ballot. Backers say they collected more than 1.5 million signatures, well over the roughly 875,000 they needed.
Polls have suggested that a majority of Californians support the billionaire tax proposal, but opponents are putting up a fight.
Google founder Sergey Brin has already donated $57 million to a political committee called “Building a Better California” that’s backing a variety of initiatives designed to blunt the billionaires’ tax. It’s raised over $90 million, counting Brin’s contributions, from fewer than a dozen donors.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Silicon Valley tech moguls are adamantly opposed to the billionaire tax. They warn it will drive California’s wealthiest residents out of the state. Some have already purchased properties out of state in case it passes.
Gavin Newsom told Bloomberg News: “You would have a windfall one time and then over the years you would see a significant reduction in taxes because taxpayers will move.”