California Billionaire Tax Trails in New Poll as Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin Spends Over $100 Million to Defeat It
A poll released on October 19 shows California's proposed one-time billionaire wealth tax, Proposition 40, falling short of majority support. In the Citrin Center-POLITICO survey, 46 percent of likely voters backed the measure and 43 percent opposed it, with about one in ten undecided; a Public Policy Institute of California poll last month had put support at 52 percent.
Proposition 40, placed on the ballot by the healthcare workers union SEIU-UHW, goes before voters on November 3. It would impose a one-time 5 percent tax on the total assets of people who lived in California on January 1, 2026 and had a net worth above $1 billion, raising an estimated $100 billion, 90 percent of it for healthcare and the rest for education and food assistance.
The opposition is led by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. According to state filings and multiple news reports, Brin has contributed more than $100 million (about $102 million) to Building a Better California, the political committee fighting the tax, including a $20 million contribution disclosed in August. POLITICO Playbook reported that the sum is roughly 40 times Brin's political spending over the previous two decades. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen have each added eight-figure contributions of their own, and groups opposing Proposition 40 and backing related measures have raised more than $300 million in total.
Bloomberg's billionaires index puts Brin's net worth at about $270 billion. If Proposition 40 passes, a 5 percent levy would put his tax bill at nearly $14 billion. Brin has reportedly bought a home on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe and now lists Nevada as his residence; the measure uses January 1, 2026 residency to determine who owes the tax, a date its architects say was chosen to prevent wealthy residents from leaving the state ahead of the vote to avoid it.
Governor Gavin Newsom has said he opposes Proposition 40 and will vote no. He also backs Proposition 42, a rival measure designed to block the wealth tax.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 谷歌联合创始人 Sergey Brin 2026 年 10 月在白宫出席活动。照片：白宫官方照片，公共领域，经维基共享资源／Google co-founder Sergey Brin at the White House in October 2026. Official White House photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
