Sergey Brin spends millions to crush California wealth tax

By Maya Ellison · Reporting from Detroit · September 30, 2026

As Google co-founder Sergey Brin funnels millions to defeat Proposition 40, the political establishment joins corporate elites to protect extreme wealth.

The price of a hundred billion dollars

We are told that California is simply too rich, delicate, and fragile to ask a handful of men to pay their share. When a poll released on Sept. 30, 2026, found that 48% of likely California voters support a wealth tax, panic hit the executive suites. Proposition 40 would levy a 5% tax on assets exceeding $1.1 billion to help plug shortfalls caused by federal healthcare cuts. This is the same economic logic that defined the European sovereign debt crisis, where ordinary citizens bore austerity while crash architects were shielded.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin funneled $102 million into the group Building a Better California to defeat the tax, according to CNN. This nine-figure expenditure is one of the most profitable investments of his life. He is not alone in this defense of accumulated extraction. Governor Gavin Newsom publicly stated he will vote no on the initiative, arguing the state cannot let an advocacy organization write the tax code. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton have likewise lined up against the measure. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, opponents raised $187 million to crush the tax, while supporters raised $32 million. When the ultra-wealthy feel the slightest pinch on their ledgers, they simply buy a hundred million dollars worth of fear.

The machinery of engineered panic

The opposing case is shouted from every television screen and real estate office in the state: we are warned of a mass exodus. Aaron Kirman, CEO and founder of Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California, told Fox Business that the proposal will drive buyers away. Robert Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, insists that an asset tax is driving job creators out of the state. But this is a calculated ghost story designed to paralyze working families. UC Berkeley professor Emmanuel Saez pointed out the factual reality of their empty threats when he told CNN, "It’s too late to leave now." He explained that because the ballot was announced in late 2025, billionaires had only one month to sever residency—an operational impossibility.

The polling numbers expose the widening gulf between the panic of the ownership class and the lived experience of the public. According to NBC News, 59% of poll respondents were not concerned about wealthy residents leaving the state. Among Hispanic respondents, 62% shared that view. They are not scared of the billionaires leaving; they are tired of the billionaires taking. Suzanne Jimenez, chief of staff of the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, named the reality clearly in the Los Angeles Times: "The billionaires take and take — tax break after tax break — and now they’re spending that money to deceive voters and avoid paying their fair share."

History repeats its regressive ledger

We have walked this exact road before. The Wealth Tax Act of 1935 raised federal income tax on higher income levels, taking up to 75 percent of the highest incomes. However, Congress also passed the Social Security Act of 1935, introducing regressive payroll taxes. Today, the stakes are just as stark. Corporate interests designed rival measures like Proposition 41 and Proposition 42 to nullify the wealth tax and protect private fortunes. This mirrors the Great Recession, when public funds bailed out financial actors while workers received no relief. It mirrors the Flint Water Crisis, where cost-cutting prioritized budgets over basic survival.

The working people of California understand the arithmetic of survival. In the NBC News poll, 36% of respondents said their personal financial situation was worse than four years ago. Another 25% cited the cost of living as their most important issue. They watch emergency rooms close while centibillionaires hide assets across 60 limited liability companies. Healthcare workers back the tax alongside Rep. Ro Khanna and Tom Steyer, who know a society fails when hardware stores pay higher effective rates than software monopolies.

Proposition 40 will likely fall short of majority support at the ballot box in November 2026. Tech oligarchs flooded the race with nearly $200 million in opposition spending to kill it. When emergency rooms shutter across the state from Medicaid cuts, the blood will lie on the ledgers of Sergey Brin, Gavin Newsom, and every politician who chose billionaire hoarding over a working mother's hospital bed.

Sergey Brin spends millions to crush California wealth tax

The price of a hundred billion dollars

The machinery of engineered panic

History repeats its regressive ledger

Sources