---
title: "Sergey Brin spends $102 million to fight California wealth tax"
description: "The Google co-founder is funding the campaign against a one-time 5% levy on the assets of California billionaires, CNN reported."
author: "rews desk"
published: 2026-09-29T16:00:41.567Z
modified: 2026-09-29T21:07:44Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/sergey-brin-spends-102-million-to-fight-california-wealth-ta-8faffc
language: en
tags: ["trump", "economy", "wealth-tax", "politics", "ai", "us"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Sergey Brin spends $102 million to fight California wealth tax

*The Google co-founder is funding the campaign against a one-time 5% levy on the assets of California billionaires, CNN reported.*

By rews desk · September 29, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/sergey-brin-spends-102-million-to-fight-california-wealth-ta-8faffc

## In brief

- Brin gave $102 million in a year to Building a Better California, opposing November’s Proposition 40 wealth tax
- The measure would levy a one-time 5% tax on assets over $1 billion, costing Brin nearly $14 billion
- Backers estimate $100 billion in revenue to offset about $20 billion a year in federal health care cuts
- Polls show a split electorate: 48% in favor in a UC Berkeley IGS survey and 52% in a PPIC poll
- Newsom and both gubernatorial candidates oppose the tax; opposition ads outspend supporters about 1,000 to one

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has given more than $100 million over the past year to a group fighting a one-time wealth tax that California voters will decide in November, according to CNN.

The measure, Proposition 40, would impose a 5% tax on the total assets of state residents with a net worth above $1 billion. Brin, whose fortune is estimated at about $270 billion, among the five largest in the world according to Bloomberg’s billionaires index, would face a bill of nearly $14 billion, CNN reported.

State campaign finance records show Brin donated $102 million over the last year to a group called Building a Better California, which has booked more than $50 million in advertising time, according to AdImpact data cited by CNN.

If approved, the tax would apply to taxpayers and trusts valued at $1 billion or more, and to anyone living in the state at the start of this year, a design meant to stop wealthy residents from moving to avoid it. The ballot measure was announced in late November 2025, leaving one month to change residency.

“It’s too late to leave now,” Emmanuel Saez, a University of California, Berkeley professor and an architect of the tax, told CNN. “And we chose that design because we believe, based on the tax experts, that it’s basically impossible to sever residency with California within one month.”

Supporters, including labor unions and progressive organizers, say the tax is a response to federal health care spending cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which they estimate leave a shortfall of about $20 billion a year for California and threaten the state’s Medi-Cal program. They estimate the tax would raise $100 billion, covering that gap for about five years, and would target just over 250 individuals.

“Providers in places with vulnerable populations that depend a lot on Medicaid are going to be hit especially hard,” said Brian Galle, another UC Berkeley professor who helped draft the measure’s language.

Polling suggests a close vote. A UC Berkeley IGS survey last month found 48% of likely voters in favor and 41% opposed, while a Public Policy Institute of California poll this month found 52% would vote yes after reading the ballot title and label.

Groups opposing the measure have reserved nearly $100 million in advertising time this year, according to AdImpact data, against about $100,000 in advertising supporting the tax. Meghan Finegan, a representative for the Yes campaign, said supporters had also spent several hundred thousand dollars on turnout efforts and campaign literature. Some opposition ads note that Planned Parenthood and several non-healthcare unions oppose the tax.

Other wealthy Californians funding the No effort include venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Kleiner Perkins chairman John Doerr and Stripe chief executive Patrick Collison, according to campaign finance records. Building a Better California is also among the top funders of the main No committee and is supporting two rival measures, Proposition 41 and Proposition 42, that would limit new state taxes and could supersede the wealth tax if either draws more votes.

Governor Gavin Newsom, who is widely expected to pursue the presidency in 2028, has said he will vote no and argued instead for a national minimum tax on billionaires. “We can’t let a single advocacy organization, however well-intentioned, write the state’s tax code on its own terms,” he wrote on Substack. Both candidates to succeed him, Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton, also oppose the tax and were scheduled to appear in a gubernatorial debate on Wednesday night.

Because many Silicon Valley executives take small salaries and hold their wealth in stock and property, the tax reaches assets rather than income. That could expose billionaires to intrusive examination of their holdings and push business leaders out of the state, said Robert Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable. “We already have all the highest taxes in the country — gas taxes, income taxes,” he said.

> I fled socialism with my family in 1979 and know the devastating, oppressive society it created in the Soviet Union. I don’t want California to end up in the same place.

Brin, who was born in Moscow, made those comments in a rare statement to The New York Times. His donations are the latest step in a shift in his political activity: he protested the travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries during President Donald Trump’s first term but attended Trump’s second inauguration, dined with technology leaders at the White House, gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee last year and, after initially backing a Democratic candidate in the gubernatorial primary, put money behind Hilton.

Technology executives have threatened to move their residences and businesses out of California if the measure passes, while opponents and supporters say the outcome could shape similar tax efforts in other states. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, where Brin sits on the board, did not respond to a request for comment from Brin, CNN reported. Voters will decide the measure in November.