Google's Sergey Brin has now donated more than $100 million to oppose California's billionaire tax

Key Points:

• Sergey Brin has donated $102 million to Building a Better California, a PAC opposing California's Proposition 40, making him the largest individual contributor against the billionaire tax measure.
• Proposition 40 proposes a one-time 5% tax on California’s 200 billionaires, with revenue primarily funding healthcare, education, and food assistance; Brin, with a net worth near $260 billion, could owe about $13 billion.
• Several tech billionaires, including Eric Schmidt and Peter Thiel, oppose the measure, fearing it resembles socialist policies; Governor Gavin Newsom also argues the tax could reduce investments in essential public services.
• Some billionaires, including Brin and Larry Page, have shifted residency or business entities out of California to states without wealth taxes, though research suggests their departure would not significantly diminish California’s tax revenue in the long term.
• A National Bureau of Economic Research study indicates the proposed tax is large relative to current billionaire tax payments and that even a mass exodus of billionaires would take decades to offset the projected $100 billion revenue from the tax.