Sergey Brin bankrolls campaign asking Californians to opppse billionaire’s tax

Alphabet executive Sergey Brin is spearheading an effort to cut down California’s ‘billionaire tax’ by appealing to the state’s voting masses with three new ballot initiatives.

Brin and other tech titans plan to introduce ballot measures designed to combat the 5% tax on the ultra-wealthy. The group, Building a Better California, has amassed a monster $35 million in funds so far.

The measures include a plan to ban new taxes that apply retroactively and new taxes on personal property such as retirement savings, stocks, bonds and intellectual property.

The second proposed ballot measure will also nix attempts to go around California tax rules governing how much in state funds must be spent on education. Another would require a pre-Election Day audit of any program receiving new funding as a result of a tax increase approved by voters.

Voters in the Pacific Palisades district, which was devastated by fires earlier in the year, turned out to vote on Prop 50.

Andy Johnstone for the New York Post Andy Johnstone for NewYorkPost

“California is the world’s fourth-largest economy and a global center of innovation,” Building a Better California spokesperson Abby Lunardini said in a statement.

“Yet, for decades, it has become increasingly hard for working families and businesses to live, grow, and thrive here. Between skyrocketing costs, a housing crisis, and some of the country’s highest taxes — with less and less to show for it, the California dream is drifting out of reach for many.”

Sergey Brin at the tenth Breakthrough Prize ceremony held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on April 13, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images) Breakthrough Prize Ceremony – Arrivals The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images

Brin showered Building a Better California with $20 million. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Stripe founder Patrick Collison, Ripple chairman Chris Larsen and venture capitalist Michael Moritz gave $2 million each, another other donations.

Proponents of the “billionaires tax,” also planned as a ballot measure, says it will raise millions that can go towards funding California’s healthcare shortfalls.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is opposed to the tax but progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, visiting Los Angeles Wednesday, wants to build momentum around it.

While U.S. billionaires became $1.5 trillion richer last year, the average worker in America has just $955 in retirement savings & 21% of seniors are trying to survive on less than $15,000 a year,” he wrote on X recently. “That’s why I’ll be in LA this week fighting for a wealth tax on billionaires.”

Building a Better California is one of several billionaire-backed groups aiming to counteract unions and other special interests in state politics.

A committee opposed to the billionaire tax, called Stop the Wealth Tax, is funded by venture capitalist Ron Conway and plans to cast Newsom and other politicians in ads urging Californians to vote no on the tax, per the New York Times.

Crypto billionaires Larsen and investor Tim Draper have launched a separate group, Grow California, that plans to back candidates for state Legislature that they believe offer pragmatic solutions to affordability and other crises in California.